


Where She Sleeps

by Cruciferous_Jex



Category: Kung Fu Panda - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-01-31 08:48:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 50,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12678498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cruciferous_Jex/pseuds/Cruciferous_Jex
Summary: Tigress and Tai Lung find themselves stranded far from home, so they must learn to work together - before they tear each other apart. Takes place during the first movie. Contains adult themes including lemons.





	1. Chapter 1

Tigress regained movement in a sticker bush. Her muscles flickered to life twitch by twitch, until she felt her chest unlock and she drew breath through a freshly loosened jaw. She rolled over and hacked. She had landed face down, with her mouth open, so she'd spent the next three hours inhaling dust.

She rose and stumbled up the side of ledge where Tai Lung's strike sent her flying. At the last possible moment of the fight she'd lunged for him without an endgame in mind. In the three hours since she'd chastised herself harshly for this. Leaping without a plan directly into the strike range of a murderous giant was effectively suicide. Adrenaline and the desire to protect her friends caused her to act without thinking.

He tossed her above him. She flipped in the air and landed on his back, claws out. She sank them into his flesh and tore them out again, trying to do as much damage as possible before he murdered her. He roared - that sound, so close, shook her to the floor of her being. He tore her off him and jabbed his fingertip in her lower chest, hard. The next thing she knew she was flying frozen through the air, flung away from the ledge where her friends were surely dying.

She stumbled back to them. Her heart plunged into her stomach. She imagined having to tell Shifu the team was dead. The heartbreak in his eyes would destroy her - ah, but why worry about that when Tai Lung would kill her Master in the midst of destroying the Valley of Peace. If she didn't stop Tai Lung, instead of being destroyed by heartbreak in her Master's eyes she would be destroyed by having to bury him.

She stumbled faster towards her friends, her chest burning. Crane was a white pile of fluttering movement, his feathers jostled by the breeze - it was just the breeze, that was all, she was sure, but suddenly there was a larger movement and his wing lifted, then his head.

"Crane!" she tried to shout, but her lungs were full of dust. She sprinted and dropped to her knees beside him. "Are you all right?"

"I'll recover," he said. "They're alive."

"Are you sure?" Tigress checked on them. Frozen, but alive. "Do you know how to undo this?"

"I don't. Mantis might, but…" he gestured to Mantis, fraught with rictus.

"Can you fly?"

"Um. Yeah, nothing broken. Give me a minute." He gingerly put his hat back on.

"Take them home and warn Shifu. I'm going after Tai Lung."

He looked taken aback. "Tigress - "

"Crane, don't argue with me!" she snapped. "He must be stopped. Take them home."

She took off on all fours without looking back.

o

He was not hard to track, being so huge, but he was incredibly fast and had a three hour lead on her. She ran at speed, so if she did not find him soon she'd have to stop and rest for the night. No use finding him if she was too exhausted to fight him. As she ran she played endless scenarios in her head on how to exploit what few of his weakness Shifu had named.

Having finally fought him her terror for her home and her Master was magnified. She'd expected Tai Lung to be huge, fast, and strong, but she hadn't expected him to be that huge, that fast, that strong. When he leaned so casually on the broken bridge her insides went cold.

I cannot defeat him.

There was no use arguing the point. In the best of circumstances she might get close, but she was no match for his hitting power. One solid strike and the battle would turn from a real fight to a slow and sorry death spiral on her part. Her only chance for victory would be a surprise claw across the windpipe, if she could jump onto his back and execute the move with enough speed. It was a mercenary tactic with very little honor. She decided to be at peace with that.

After a long time she leapt up a tree to get a better view of the surrounds. Her brain saw him before she did, and she did a double take. Tai Lung, surveying the terrain on a nearby treetop of his own, looking as surprised as she felt. His surprise gave way to a smug grin. He gestured for her to follow and backflipped off the branch.

"Oh, you son of a -" Tigress said under her breath. Her heart pounded as she leapt to the ground.

He ran ahead of her - fast, so fast. He paused briefly before a cool white mist that obscured everything. He turned to glance at her and vanished into it.

That's right, run, Tigress thought, growling.

All sound stopped when she entered the mist. Her fur stood on end. The silence was so complete that her ears felt full, as they sometimes felt when she climbed a mountain. After another second sound returned to normal and she emerged into a green, rolling valley which she did not recognize, with lush fruiting trees and the beginnings of a beautiful sunset.

She scanned for Tai Lung. Nothing. Suddenly she was flying through the air. She crashed through a wooden fence and rolled into a vegetable garden. On the way her head hit a rock hard enough to stun her useless.

She hadn't even seen him. He snuck up on her before she'd gotten anywhere near him, much less his throat. That was a bad plan to follow through with considering her element of surprise was lost and the execution depended on it entirely. The day's exhaustion compromised her judgement, so now she would die in a bed of cabbage feeling stupid.

"How did you do it?" Tai Lung asked in a jarringly conversational tone. He leaned against a broken fence post and examined his claws.

"How did I do what?" Tigress muttered. There were two of him.

"How did you recover so quickly from my nerve attack? You should have been immobilized until Shifu released you."

She tried get into a defensive posture but her body refused to cooperate. A sharp ache cut through her skull and with it came a wave of nausea. She didn't reply.

He gave her a bored look.

"Perhaps it was my mistake. I'm out of practice. It's been twenty years, you see." He crouched down next to her, close enough for her to smell his fur, to look directly into his eyes. "Remind Shifu of that, will you? Twenty years." He gave a low, rumbling chuckle and lifted her chin with his index finger. "Have you even been alive that long, little thing?"

She knocked his hand away. "Don't toy with me," she spat. "Get it over with, you arrogant coward."

He growled. Rose his great paw to strike.

"Excuse me," came a pleasant voice.

Tigress and Tai Lung turned. The voice belonged to a tiny white lizard wearing a green and red checkered robe. It carried a small gold staff. The look in its gold eyes was both curious and disappointed.

"Who are you?" Tai Lung demanded.

"I am the owner of this vegetable patch you've wrecked," it said. "Couldn't have had your lover's spat elsewhere?"

Tai Lung chuckled. "Lover's spat? She's trying to kill - "

"Quiet," the lizard said softly and made a cutting gesture towards Tai Lung.

Tai Lung's voice stopped as though torn from his lungs. His hand rose gingerly to his throat.

"Thank you," the lizard said. "Now sit down, please. Not on a cabbage."

Tai Lung took two puppet-like steps away from a cabbage and fell soundly onto his behind, a look of bewildered horror on his face.

"What - what are you?" Tigress croaked at the creature, trying to back away.

The little lizard smiled as wisps of white light suddenly snaked around it, solidifying into the great golden crest and long tail of a dragon.

"I am a god," it said. "And you've destroyed my cabbages."

o

It dawned on Tigress that she might already be dead, seeing as what was happening here could not possibly be happening. Dragons did not exist. They could not drop a warrior like Tai Lung with a mere word, and they certainly did not grow cabbages or speak to her. Everything in her wanted to run, but her limbs were numb and heavy.

"These are my prize cabbages," the dragon said. "Thirteen hundred years I've been growing these! And now you've gone and torn them up. You, Spots, why are you picking on her?" He pointed at Tai Lung. "You ought to be nice to her, she's a nice girl.

Tai Lung blinked, seemingly unsure if the dragon actually wanted an answer. He opened his mouth but his voice was still absent.

"You! Stripes!" it said, shaking its finger at Tigress. "Why do you chase him? Hm? You don't chase boys, they chase you. And what in the world are the two of you fighting about? This ridiculous - some sort of - scroll?" He cocked his head, as though listening through the ether for their history. After a moment he gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "Bunch of nonsense. You're willing to die for this? Mortals, always blithely throwing about that which should be most precious to them. I've never seen a sillier pair of cats," he tutted. "Now then."

It strolled between them, tapping its chin like a parent making a big show of deciding how to punish his naughty children. It considered them each in turn, and deeply. Tigress had the singular and violating sensation of her entire heart and mind being examined without her consent. She winced, her guts going cold.

Please don't hurt us, Tigress thought meekly.

The god glanced at her, hearing her thoughts. Smirked.

"Stop hurting each other," it commanded.

As it spoke bright white lines of energy crept out of their chests and crawled into it's upturned palm. As the energies reached it's hand they mingled together.

"You grow gardens, you do not destroy them. Understand?" It closed its palm and the glowing energy disipated. It bent down and picked a dandelion. "Ugh, weeds. You do everything and they keep coming back. Now," it said to the two of them. "Be gone."

The god blew on the dandelion. Tigress felt a horrible tingling strangeness overcome her. Something hooked into her chest and yanked her into the wind, and into the black.


	2. Chapter 2

When she opened her eyes she lay on her back in a dense, snowy, and unfamiliar forest.

Wasn't it summer?

To her near left Tai Lung crouched. He looked up at the trees and gave a brief growl of disapproval. She shifted as she woke, crackling leaves under her. Tai Lung snarled and hit her with a nerve strike directly in the center of her chest. She seized up and froze.

Tai Lung followed suit.

He tipped over like a wooden doll, arm still extended, landing with a puff in the snow next to her. They stared at each other, physically unable to look away. His eyes were baffled and incredibly angry.

Tigress's mind raced. What happened? How did he freeze himself? Had the strike ricocheted somehow?

Did he know how to get out of this stasis? Surely he must, Shifu never taught anything less than complete technique. But how long would it take? And what would he do to her all alone in this forest? When he recovered he was sure to be very very upset. If she was lucky, he would just kill her quickly. If she wasn't her fate could be much, much worse.

After a few hours Tai Lung made a sound. It was deep, guttural, and distressing, especially coming from his frozen face. His chest stuttered. Movement rippled up his into his neck and muzzle. With an agonized groan he rolled his jaw open and slowly began to unclench himself. It looked painful, as though he was in a battle with his own musculature. He stopped to pant and curse a few times before finally regaining movement.

He shook it off then turned to look at her with a dark gaze that made her heart pound. He was deciding what to do with her. She wondered how many times she would be forced to ponder her fate today. He leaned into her with a low growl.

"Listen to me," he rumbled, close to her face. Tigress shuddered. "I'm going to release you now. Do not continue to be a pain. Are we clear?"

She could not speak or nod, but he accepted whatever was in her eyes. Quick as lightning he tapped a few points on her body. She came unclenched and rolled on her side, dry heaving into the snow.

"There's no way Shifu taught you nerve attacks, you're not nearly advanced enough," he said. "How did you reflect the strike back at me?"

"I didn't," Tigress croaked.

"You clearly did," Tai Lung said, growing impatient. "Tell me how!" he growled, grabbing her vest and baring his teeth in her face. Tigress gasped and smacked him hard across the mouth. To her confusion she felt a bright pain bloom in her jaw, tasted blood in her mouth.

Tai Lung roared and drew his arm back to strike her, his teeth stained red.

"Wait!" Tigress shouted, putting her hands up. He startled long enough for her to keep talking. "Just - just wait. Something's wrong."

He gave a brief questioning growl, arm still drawn back.

She gingerly extended her arm to him. "Scratch me."

"What?"

"Just do it."

Looking skeptical, he gave her a quick slice across the forearm. They both flinched. There were bright red cuts on both their arms.

"Wh- wh - what?" Tai Lung flustered. "What in the -?"

They looked at each other, equally baffled.

"What is this?" Tai Lung asked softly. "The work of that -that -"

"Dragon?"

"Dragon!" Tai Lung sputtered. "The - that wasn't -that couldn't have been - dragons aren't real!"

She grabbed at his wrist gauntlet. "Let me go."

"I told you not to be a pain," he snarled, giving her a hard jerk by her vest. "Are you ready to behave?"

She showed him the scratch on her forearm. "What choice do I have?"

He grunted, dropped her on the ground, and began to pace. They started at each other. When he looked at her she could see wheels turning in his head and she didn't like that.

"What do you suggest we do?" she asked.

"We? What's this 'we?' I'm returning to the Jade Palace to collect my scroll. You can feel free to do whatever it is you do."

She straightened. "What I do is stop you. You will not return to the Valley of Peace, Tai Lung."

Tai Lung rolled his eyes. "Do you have a death wish? Stop throwing yourself into my teeth!"

"Only now you cannot bite me."

Tai Lung's eyes widened.

"Anything you inflict on me will be inflicted on you. But I will not stop pursuing you."

"Fine! Chase me all you like! Who are you trying to impress?" he asked. His eyebrows raised. "No need to explain, I know all too well who you're trying to impress. I wonder what lies Shifu filled your head with, hm? The same lies he told me? Or did he cook up a new batch for my replacement?"

Tigress gave a low, warning growl.

"Oh what a sweet little rumble you make," he said, chuckling. "My dear, it's been a pleasure, but I must be on my way. Pursue me if you wish, but really, don't - I can tolerate a lot of pain and keep moving. Don't make me inflict it on the both of us. In the meantime - "

He poked her shoulders and breastbone. She immediately felt drippy and relaxed.

"That will slow both of us down," Tai Lung said, yawning. "But it will slow you down more. Happy hunting, little kitten."

Angered rippled through her. She hated being called kitten.

He gave a curt bow, then dashed off into the strange forest on all fours.

Tigress rose, wobbled a bit, and followed.

He was right. The strike did slow her down. She tried to keep up with him but she was soon overcome with the desire to find somewhere to curl up and nap. That compounded with the exhaustion she'd fairly earned meant Tai Lung gained ground and was quickly out of her sight. When she could run no more she climbed into a tree to rest. The stars burst into life above the canopy as she dusted snow off the thick branch she selected to sleep upon.

She got a look at her surroundings. There was not much to see. The forest gave way to a flat snowy plane, broken only by a road, forever off into the horizon. Far in the distance were flickering campfire lights. Nothing looked remotely family to her, not even the trees. She knew of no place anywhere near the Valley of Peace this unending and flat.

And snowing. In summer.

She moaned softly and rubbed her eyes. She was exhausted and this was more than she could properly consider. In the morning she would continue to pursue her insufferable quarry. He also had to rest and it was unlikely he was far. She put her head down on her arms to sleep.

When she woke it was still dark and she knew with every inch of her body that Tai Lung was two and a half miles directly southeast. She felt him the way one feels an oncoming storm. In a sort of fugue, without stopping to think about it, she leapt down from her branch and began walking towards him. Her footsteps were loud in the snow. He would hear her coming. But he already knew she was coming. She felt him know it. She felt him turn to come meet her.

She came to a clearing just as he stepped out of the opposite side. As soon as she saw him her fugue evaporated and she didn't remember making the conscious choice to seek him out. Yet here she was.

He was a hulking silhouette, lit only by moonlight and the glowing gold of his eyes. They stared one another down, but the intimidation was tinged with mutual bafflement. To her surprise Tai Lung spoke first.

"Why are you here?"

"Why are you?"

They were both silent for a long moment, Neither of them knew.

"Well," he said. "What now?"

"What?"

"What's your end game, dear?"

"My end game is stopping you."

"Yes you've told me," he said, rolling his eyes. "I'm curious how. You can't strike me without inflicting pain on yourself, and apparently you can't sneak up on me. So what's your plan?"

"I can kill you painlessly," Tigress said. "Silently."

"No you can't."

"How do you know?"

"Try," he replied darkly.

Tigress growled.

"Don't growl at me, you're the one making threats."

"Fine. Since you are so wise, what's your end game?"

"I'm going back to the Jade Palace for my scroll."

"It will never be your scroll."

"That remains to be seen," he said smoothly. "But it's certainly not yours. You're no Dragon Warrior."

Tigress took a sharp breath. Growled.

He chuckled. "I'm bored with growls. What else have you got?"

She clenched her fists and began to circle him. He watched her, amused.

"I see," he said. "Yes yes, get yourself a nice good view. I don't mind. I'll even help you." He lifted his arms slightly and turned for her, flicking his tail. "Any ideas?"

Tigress was quiet.

He smirked over his shoulder. "I'm waiting."

She did not answer. He faced her and looked her up and down.

"What's your name?" he asked. "Or shall I keep calling you little kitten?"

She turned on her heel and stalked off into the dark forest.

"Giving up already?" he called after her, laughing. "Very wise, little kitten! Very wise."

She kept walking for a long time. She eventually stopped at another sleeping tree but could never sleep for all her seething. Instead of climbing into it she punched the base of it, flipped and kicked at it, tore at the bark with her claws. Everything she would have liked to do to his stupid smug insufferable princely face.

I'll smack that underbite right back into place, Tigress thought, punching the tree. I'll be your dentist.

She thought suddenly of the panda.

She punched the tree hard.

He was pointing at me, Tigress broiled. Oogway was pointing at me. I know it. Shifu knows it.

She turned and kicked the tree with the back of her heel.

If I defeated Tai Lung I would PROVE it.

Swiped her claws across the trunk, digging deep trenches in the wood.

But instead I'm stuck out here - wherever THIS is -

She took a few steps back, panting, clenching her fists. She flew at the tree, extended her leg in midair -

With HIM!

She hit the tree. It wobbled for a moment, creaked, and with a great crash came down. Tai Lung probably heard it. Good! She hoped he heard it. Maybe if she kicked down a tree on top of his big flat head she could kill him that way.

Not knowing what else to do she started walking in the direction of the road she'd seen. Throughout the night she kept walking until she hit that same boundary of two and a half miles, then she suddenly knew Tai Lung's location and felt compelled to turn around and head back to him.

"Stupid dragon curse," Tigress muttered, and forced herself to stand still. She may not be able to move forward but she could wrest enough control of herself to not walk all the way back to him every time she pinged off his aura. Once she no longer felt him she rose to her feet and got on her way.

Eventually she hit a wall she could not pass. He must have stopped to rest. She turned in his direction. Perhaps she could creep back to him and deliver that painless silent death in his sleep?

She sighed. Her shoulders sagged. She simply did not have the energy, and truth be told she had no clue how she would do it.

"Goodnight, you dumb beast," she muttered, found a branch, and slept.

o

The next morning they both emerged from the forest onto the windy plain at the same time. He was perhaps a mile away, a hulking figure the size of her pinkie. He gradually grew larger as he came towards her.

"Good morning!" he called.

Tigress didn't return the greeting. She stood with her side to him, a defensive posture. He stopped about ten feet from her.

"Do you have any food?" he asked politely.

Tigress was taken aback. "Where would I be keeping food?"

Tai Lung shrugged. "You look like a girl who might have some cookies on her."

She blinked. "Are you…calling me fat?" she asked incredulously.

"No!" Tai Lung replied. He grinned toothily. "I'm calling you sweet."

She crossed her arms and furrowed her brow.

Tai Lung frowned.

"Now listen, there's some sort of walled fortress in that direction," he pointed towards the horizon. "It's a few hour's walk down the road. That's the best bet for food. I'm hungry, you're hungry, we're hungry, we'll both go there, we'll walk together. Come on," he said. He gestured for her to follow and stalked off.

"I'm not sure who you think you are barking orders at me," Tigress replied.

"I don't think I'm anyone!" he snapped. "Did you plan on heading somewhere else?" he asked, gesturing to the barren white plain. "We're going the same direction. We both need food and there is food!" He jabbed his hand at the horizon. "We can walk together or we can walk two and a half miles apart. Your choice."

"I'll take two and a half miles apart," Tigress growled. She turned to walk away from him.

"Oh, come on!" Tai Lung cried.

She kept walking.

"What are we going to do, walk at a distance all the way back to the Jade Palace?"

She shook her head. He started following her.

"I'm not asking much," he said. "Do you know what it's like to go twenty years without speaking to anyone?"

Tigress spun to face him. "If you are so concerned about speaking to people then perhaps you should have thought about that before you destroyed the Valley of Peace!" she snapped. "I have nothing to say to you! My only purpose is to stop you!"

"Stop me from what?"

"From taking the dragon scroll!" she shouted.

"Well I don't see any dragon scrolls out here, do you?" he shouted back.

They stared at one another. After a long moment Tigress sighed heavily and started walking towards the road.

"Fine!" she said. "Fine. Walk where you want. But I don't want to talk to you."

Tai Lung made an exasperated sound but remained quiet. They crunched through the snow.

"At least tell me your name."

"You made it a whole three minutes!"

"Well what am I supposed to call you?"

"Nothing! You aren't going to speak to me!"

Tai Lung raised his chin, crossed his arms and fluttered his eyelids, imitating her. "I'm not sure who you think you are barking orders at me," he said.

"Seriously?"

"That's how you sound."

"Yes. I understood what you were doing there."

"Oh, have a sense of humor!"

"Stop telling me not to have - or to have - or - just stop talking to me!" She stalked off ahead of him, frustrated at how easily he made her lose her composure.

"Goodness, what splendid company you are. Maybe it would be better if we did kill each other. Only we can't."

"Maybe I'll hire someone."

He gave her a withering look. "Oh. Oh right, little kitten. Who are you going to hire to kill me? Oogway? Here, Oogway. Here's ten gold and a picture of the guy."

"I - " Tigress began a retort, but found herself distracted by the image he painted of Oogway as a hitman. She cracked a tiny bit, gave the smallest breath of a laugh. His expression brightened upon seeing this.

She shook off her amusement. "Don't call me little kitten," she said.

"If you'd tell me your name - "

"Quiet!" she shouted, and sped up her pace. To her relief he respected her wishes and did not speak to her the rest of the morning, though she felt his eyes on her constantly. Finally they approached the fortress.

"The gates are open," Tai Lung remarked. "That's good. Probably a peaceful place."

Carriages and traders, most of which came from the opposite direction, entered and exited freely. Tigress and Tai Lung strolled in without incident, and with no one stopping them. The fortress walls encircled a long low hill, on which was a huge city of yurts. Yaks walked by with embroidered coats, along with goats and long haired sheep. A bear or two. They faced a long row of traders and cook-shops, beyond which more yurts rose up on the small hill, at the top of which was a huge tent bearing differently colored flags. The smells of foreign food and the sounds of a foreign language drifted in the air.

"This is Mongolia," Tai Lung said softly. "We're in Mongolia."

Tigress's heart, which until that moment was full of fury and hope, fizzled down into her stomach like a feather in a rainstorm.

"We're in Mongolia!" Tai Lung growled through clenched teeth. The fur on his shoulders bristled. Tigress could feel anger pouring off of him.

"Tai Lung," she said warningly.

"Do you know what that means?" he seethed at Tigress.

She put her hands up in a calming gesture. "Tai Lung."

"That means - that means - " he sputtered and panted. "That means it'll take years - YEARS! - to get back to the Valley of Peace!" he roared. Startled passerby scurried away. He heaved and snarled. His pupils went narrow and his claws came out. It was like seeing a bomb seconds before detonating. Tigress nearly took a step back. She began to grow afraid that, in his rage, he might destroy this yurt city the same way he destroyed the Valley of Peace.

"Tai Lung -"

He gave a snarling growl. Her eyes widened. She thought suddenly of Shifu.

"Tai Lung, FOCUS!" she barked.

"I am focused!" he barked back, but in turning his attention to her his emotional momentum broke. He began to stalk back and forth but at least he breathed, and some sort of selfhood returned to his eyes. He shook his head, growling softly.

"Listen. Tai Lung, listen." Tigress said. "Let's eat something."

"I don't want to eat something," he grumbled, sounding like a petulant child.

"I'm not happy about this either. But we both need food, and there is food," she said, jabbing her hand at the lane of cook-shops.

He closed his eyes. Took a deep breath. Then another.

"I don't have any money," he mumbled.

"What?"

"I don't have any money!"

"Fine!" Tigress said. "I do. Now come on," she said. She started towards a noodle stand and gestured for him to follow.

"If I ever find that dragon again I'll kill him," Tai Lung seethed.

"You can't kill a god," Tigress replied.

"I absolutely can kill a god. I am the Dragon Warrior."

Tigress rolled her eyes. "How about you kill a bowl of noodles first?"

"I will murder a bowl of noodles," he grumbled.

o

They ate in silence. Tigress finally began to process her shock. It might be years until she saw her Master or her friends again. She was stuck in Mongolia - Mongolia! - with a huge psychotic hellbeast she could neither kill, maim, nor abandon. Her fate suddenly seemed very grim indeed. She watched him as he ate, feeling surreal.

Tai Lung finished his noodles and stared down into his empty bowl.

"Thank you for the meal," he said, calmer now that he was fed. "I was very hungry."

She nodded. They sat in silence for a long time, watching the city's people go abut their daily business. Her mind raced.

"You know, some very strange things have happened in my life," Tai Lung said quietly. "But nothing like this."

She shook her head.

"Were you aware that there's a god living off the Thread of Hope?" he asked.

"A god that grows cabbages," Tigress replied. "What kind of god grows cabbages?"

"And he was a tiny god! When I think of a god, I think big. Imposing."

"He was imposing," Tigress said quietly.

They sat in silence for another while, watching families stroll by and traders do business.

"Shall l I be the bigger man, then?" Tai Lung finally asked.

"What?"

"We've broken bread together. I propose a truce."

She crossed her arms. "I don't know how much of a truce I can have with someone like you."

"Someone like me? You don't know a thing about me."

"I know enough."

"I'm sure you think you do. I'm sure Shifu told you plenty."

"Oh he did," Tigress lied.

"Whatever he said, I promise you it was only half the story."

"Your half of the story ends in mass murder and the destruction of my home," Tigress said. "Why would I want to hear it?"

He scowled at her. "Because in it are some things you might be interested to know about the man you call your Master."

"I know enough. I know you aren't fit to speak his name."

"I'll speak his name all I like. But that is beside the point."

"Then what's the point?"

"The point is, without a truce, we'll just end up going in a two and a half mile wide circle hoping the other gets caught in an avalanche or dies in battle," he said.

"An avalanche?" she asked. "On a plain?"

"I -" Tai Lung began. He shook his head. "No - I mean - you know what I mean."

"I really don't. How would that happen?"

"Stranger things have happened. Stranger things happened yesterday. Stranger things may very well continue to happen, and we are best off facing them together. We should at least attempt to be friendly."

"Oh I'm sure you'd like that," she replied. "I'm sure you'd like to be friendly with me after twenty years in prison."

He rolled his eyes. "Why do pretty women always think so highly of themselves? Don't be deluded, little kitten. I in no way desire this or you. This is a very unwanted setback and you are sour company for such a long journey. But we don't have to like each other. All we need to do is cooperate and we can both manage to get back to the Valley of Peace one day."

She bristled. "The Valley of Peace? Try Chorch-Gom."

Tai Lung shut his eyes and took a deep, steadying breath.

"If you can think of a better plan, given the current…" he gestured back and forth between them "…whatever this is, I'd like to hear it."

Tigress looked down at her empty bowl.

"No," she admitted softly. "I don't see any way around it."

"Then it's agreed." He extended his hand. "Truce."

She paused for a moment. She did not take his hand. Instead she saluted him, fist to palm, as they did at the Jade Palace. He accepted this and returned the salute.

"Thank you. Now will you please tell me your name?"

"My name is Tigress."

"Your given name, not your rank title."

She scowled. "Tigress is my given name."

"Your parents named you Tigress? How unoriginal."

"No, the matrons at Bao Gu named me Tigress."

"The orphanage?"

"Yes."

"Oh I see!" Tai Lung huffed. "So I'm off to prison and Shifu immediately starts trawling the Valley of Peace for his next Dragon Warrior orphan! Got right back to it, did he?"

"No. It didn't happen that way at all."

"Fine, then how did it happen?"

"None of your business!" she snapped.

He growled at her. She growled back. All the people in their immediate surrounds grew quiet and scampered away, giving a wide berth to the two clawed and fanged killing machines that may or may not be about to fight in their presence. The proprietor of the noodle stand scolded them loudly in Mongol. He pointed away from his store.

"We're off to a splendid start," Tai Lung muttered.

"We don't have to like each other, all we have to do is cooperate," Tigress said, standing. "Don't get used too used to me buying you lunch. I didn't bring enough money to cover being blasted into Mongolia by a dragon. We'll need a lot of supplies for a journey this long."

He looked skeptical. "You're suggesting we stay here? And … what? Find jobs? Should I ask the noodle man if he's hiring?"

"I'm not sure how else one gets money."

Tai Lung rolled his eyes. "In such circumstances as these, one doesn't bother with money. One silently takes what one needs in the night and leaves quickly."

Tigress looked at him with disgust. "You can't just resort to theft every time things don't go your way."

"Yes, in fact, I can," Tai Lung said. "No one here can stop me. Or you, for that matter."

"'Because they can't stop me' is not a good reason to rob innocent people."

"No, getting back home within our lifetimes is a good reason to rob innocent people. Do you have any idea how long it will take to earn the kind of money you're talking about?"

"Do you have a better suggestion?"

"Yes. I just made it."

"No. If you want to be a lazy coward go right ahead. I'll let the entire city know what you're up and then sit right down like an anchor. All you'll be able to do with the supplies you steal is orbit this place as a criminal. With that kind of visibility I'm certain a decent Mongolian archer can get an arrow through your eye eventually. So go ahead. Please. Rob the city and take yourself out for me. It would be the first good thing that's happened since we met."

Tai Lung stared at her. He slowly rose to his feet and came close to her, his eyes never leaving hers. When she was sure he would stop he kept walking, stepping directly into her space. He came close enough that she could hear him breathe, hear the air fill his massive chest. She could smell him. He smelled like wind and fur and something else. Something delicious.

This threw her entirely.

"What - what are you doing?" she demanded.

He reached behind her. She heard a piece of parchment ripped off a post. Tai Lung wordlessly held it up for her to see.

"What is it?" she asked, still startled by his scent, his closeness.

"It's a flyer for a prizefighting tournament," he said, pointing to a pair of figures depicted battling in a ring.

Tigress rolled her eyes. "You're just determined to do this by underhanded means, aren't you?"

"What's underhanded about it? It's an honest competition."

"A master of your level fighting total amateurs is not an honest competition. And Oogway always held that it's an affront to the spirit of kung fu to fight for money at all."

"I could not care less for Oogway's opinion on the matter," he growled. "That turtle has been senile for at least three hundred years. And you are being irrational. If you want to spend the next year cleaning yurts so we can afford to leave Mongolia, be my guest. In a few hours I'll have more money than we can carry out of here."

She crossed her arms. "Will you? Have you ever competed in a prizefighting tournament before?"

"Of course not! I was a good boy. No prizefights, no wine, no gambling, no girls. To earn the Dragon Scroll one must be utterly perfect. So I was utterly perfect."

"Except that one time."

He cast her a dark look. He leaned in close, close enough that with a mere jerk of his chin he could kiss her.

"You have a smart mouth," he said softly. "Did Shifu train you to have a smart mouth?"

She lifted her chin and met his eyes, defiant. She did not give a reply, though she knew she had a good one. Something about the combination of his eyes and closeness and scent thickened the air between them so much she could barely breathe.

His gaze fell to her mouth. Something flashed in his eyes.

Desire.

Her eyes widened. It was unmistakable and filled her with … something. Like fear but … not quite.

Tai Lung shut his eyes and shook his head. Straightened and stepped away.

"Do as you wish," he said. He shook the flyer at her, raised his eyebrows, and stalked off into the city.

"All right," Tigress replied absently, but he couldn't hear her. She couldn't quite think straight. It as though her head had floated away from her body. She shook the haze off, came back to herself. What strange thing overcame her when she saw the look of hunger in his eyes?

Tigress startled. That desire should have been an awful thing to see. She should have found it repellent. But she didn't.

She wanted to see it again.


	3. Chapter 3

She put the notion firmly out of her mind and attempted to locate the tournament hall. It took her over an hour and a half to find. It was not, as she assumed, taking place at the huge tent in the center of the fortress. It seemed that was a residence, and an opulent one at that - at least what little she saw before the barely clad, bejeweled womanservant, a sleek black panther, sent her on her way.

Her near-nakedness startled Tigress. She rang with it as she scurried away down the lane. People in China were proper, they didn't just flash themselves about all … openly. She'd just seen more of that woman than she'd likely ever seen of anyone. How in the world did she move around in an outfit like that?

She's not there to fight, Tigress thought, but the thought came in Tai Lung's voice. She winced and kept moving.

She had to find the training hall - no, the tournament space. Center. Whatever it was. She plucked a flyer off a post and tried to ask for directions. It seemed every time she stopped to show someone the flyer they either didn't know or pointed her in the opposite direction from which she came. It was only by luck that she found a pair of antelope women dressed in pink with bells hanging from their horns, walking purposefully with flyers in hand. She stopped and showed them her flyer. They looked at one another like they couldn't believe their luck and took both her arms in theirs as they walked.

"Oh, um…thank you," Tigress said.

They tittered cutely. One of them rested her head on Tigress's shoulder and gave a dreamy sigh.

"Um…I'm - do you think - I'm one of the fighters?" she asked. "And…and a man?"

They cuddled up to her, batting their eyelashes.

"I'm a woman. Listen to my voice. Can you hear my voice? I'm female."

One of the antelope gasped and covered her mouth with her little hoof. She said something to her friend, who also gasped and hoofed. They looked so innocently humiliated, with their huge eyes and matching pink eyeshadow, that Tigress couldn't help but laugh.

"It's okay, it happens all the time," she said.

They babbled at her in Mongol, and then started gesturing to her clothes and stripes, seeming to compliment them in a girlish way.

"Really it's fine. I like your bells," she said, pointing to the little iron bells that hung from their horns.

They smiled at each other and clapped once in unison, then shook their bells once, clapped twice and rang the bells twice, then did a swaying little turn while clapping and ringing in rhythm. Someone nearby hooted at them.

"You're dancers? The tournament has dancers?" She raised her eyebrows. "Sounds…colorful."

They took her by the arms again, but this time in the way of girlfriends, and led her to the tournament hall - which turned out to be an enormous tent erected outside the city gates on the opposite side of the fortress where she'd entered with Tai Lung.

Inside the tent was large raised circular ring, on a platform above which were men with three huge, curved, low horns. A rhino and an ape hung on each other, exhausted, neither willing to go down. The place was packed to the gills but the antelope girls held tightly to Tigress, leading her somewhere in the the back of the tent. She couldn't see the arena but one of the fighters must have finally collapsed, because the horns blew, and a roar erupted that was so loud she could feel it in her teeth.

Tigress and the antelope girls passed through some threshold into darkness. They went through a tunnel, at the end of which was an ox bouncer who let the three of them through another door. Tigress found herself in a thin corridor filled with bell dancers, right on the side of the arena stage. Her friends made gestures that indicated she was welcome to stay then took off their coats and got into the line, falling right into their dance routine. The antelope girls danced to entertain the crowd between bouts, so Tigress felt a little awkward standing motionless next to them, but she was blocked from view by a bulkhead separating the stage area from the audience. She stayed close to it and resigned herself to watch Tai Lung bring dishonor on kung-fu.

o

When Tai Lung finally appeared it was to much drama and fanfare. She could tell they were presenting him as the mysterious newcomer. When the crowd got a look at him chaos erupted, money changing hands left and right. The master of ceremonies walked Tai Lung grandly around the ring, babbling nonstop as if reciting a long list of victories.

Destroyed his home town, shattered his father's hip and heart, spent twenty years in prison for mass murder, she imagined, though she supposed that wasn't such a bad resume for a prizefighter. And Tai Lung did look the part, looked quite fittingly regal and dangerous. The stage suited him. Tai Lung paused on his walk around the ring to blow a kiss at the dancers, who fawned showily over him. To her relief he did not see Tigress against the dark bulkhead. When he continued on the dancers were still excited, tittering and fanning themselves. She rolled her eyes.

Tai Lung's introduction over and bets placed, the first round began. They sent out some poor crocodile with a hammer, whom Tai Lung dispatched almost instantly. Next up were a pair of wolves with swords. He disarmed them like naughty children playing in their father's weapons cabinet. The crowd, used to betting on half drunk thugs and broke mercenaries, was bowled over by Tai Lung's skill. They didn't know how to process a living, breathing master of kung-fu.

Tigress gave a few shaky sighs as she watched him fight. His technique was flawless, his control impeccable. She knew this, having been on the business end of it once or twice, but watching it as a spectator was different. Here, soaking up admiration and applause, he blossomed into an entertainer with full command of the room. He played with the audience, made them laugh. As they grew to love him he seemed to shed years, darkness, anger. He became entirely their creature, seeking to outdo himself with every match. By the time he faced off against four axe-bearing apes and an armored elephant the crowd was losing its mind.

He grinned, relishing the battle. Something in her fluttered.

Don't start, she scolded herself.

Suddenly Tigress, along with the rest of the crowd, cried out. The bell rang, Tai Lung turned to the audience to ham it up, and one of the apes landed his axe in the back of Tai Lung's knee. Tai Lung collapsed to the floor, roaring in rage. The crowd was beside itself protesting the illegal move. The referee leapt into the ring as a small crew of wranglers surrounded Tai Lung.

Serves him right, Tigress though smugly. But this presented a problem. If Tai Lung was badly hurt there was no way they were going anywhere anytime soon. Her mission was to keep him away from the Valley of Peace, so that could be a good thing. But what would they do? Stay here? In this, as Mantis would put it, total shit hole? Where she would slowly lose her mind tending to his knee in a dingy yurt?

Tigress put her palm to her forehead. Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse.

The crowd began to rouse. Tigress looked up from her hand to see that Tai Lung, to her shock, had begun to rally. The little horde of wranglers helped him stand, having bandaged his bloodied knee. The master of ceremonies spoke to the crowd, and though Tigress did not understand his words, she suspected from the reaction around her that Tai Lung was going to attempt the next round with his injury.

"Oh no you're not," Tigress said. The last thing she needed was for him to damage himself even further. She flipped on top of the bulkhead to get nearer to him and and climbed partially onto the stage.

"Tai Lung!" she shouted over the crowd, waving. "Tai Lung!"

He turned and noticed her.

"Don't!" Tigress yelled. "Don't do this!"

The crowd registered her presence. Tigress saw Tai Lung note the reaction. He limped over, smiled and bent down to her.

"You can't do this, you'll cripple yourself!" she yelled. Her voice was nothing against the screaming of the crowd.

"You're worried for me!" he shouted back, smiling widely. "How sweet."

"No, I'm - what?"

She could barely hear him. Why was it so loud? She turned to look at the audience and her gaze fell on the antelope dancers. They watched wide eyed and hysterical, hooves to mouths. While she was distracted Tai Lung took her hand and kissed it. The tent exploded in cheers and screams. Suddenly Tigress realized Tai Lung had just cast her in the show, playing the part of the terrified girl begging her injured beau not to fight on. And the audience was devouring it.

"Do NOT do this!" she yelled, furious.

"Don't worry!" he yelled back.

He grinned and lovingly released her hand, then turned towards the ring. The crowd roared.

"You're an idiot!" Tigress shouted, but he couldn't hear her.

Someone grabbed Tigress's foot. She turned, hissing, claws out. The ox bouncer from earlier firmly pointed down, ordering her off the bulkhead. She growled and flipped back down into the dancer's pit. She was immediately surrounded by sympathetic antelope friends, clinging to her arms in solidarity and rubbing her back, as if to help her through this terrible moment in her romantic life.

"Oh for crying out - " Tigress said, but the bell rung and the round began. The crowd hushed.

Tai Lung stood unsteadily on his one good leg. Before him were the remaining axe ape and the armored elephant. Tai Lung limped forward. The elephant and ape came closer, grinning, sure of victory. Tai Lung wobbled and put his hand to his knee as though he might collapse. He turned his torso away from his opponents. The crowd gasped as the ape, seeing his chance, moved into what Tigress knew was Tai Lung's striking range - and Tai Lung, having already wound up by turning away, swung his fist around and sent the ape flying into the armored elephant's chest. The ape's axe spun straight up into the air.

The crowd erupted.

The armored elephant pushed the ape off him into the pit that surrounded the ring. Tai Lung extended his hand and perfectly caught the axe on the descent, then spun it and got into a ready stance, beckoning the his opponent forward with his finger. Tigress's antelope friends gripped her tightly.

The elephant feinted back and forth, trying to buy time, knowing he was in trouble. Tai Lung remained stationary, waiting. Something in the elephant's resolve firmed and he stomped at Tai Lung, armored arm extended to block the axe blow.

But Tai Lung did not swing the axe. He took hold of the elephant's wrist gauntlet and used the weight of the axe to propel himself onto his towering shoulders. He let the axe swing around beneath the elephant's chin and used the handle to choke him. When the elephant attempted to pry Tai Lung off his back, Tai Lung leveraged all his weight against his good knee and twisted. The elephant went cross eyed, stumbled, and fell. Tai Lung hopped smoothly off his collapsed opponent, past the referee counting him down, chin held high.

The noise in the tent was apocalyptic.

Tigress's antelope friends shrieked and shook her. Tai Lung beamed as the referee held his fist in the air, declaring him the winner. The stage was quickly mobbed by staff and crew who ushered him away. Tigress freed herself from her antelope friends and tried to jump back onto the bulkhead to access the stage, but the ox blocked her, cross-armed, shaking his head. He pointed her towards the door. Seeing her confusion her friends from earlier took her by the hands and led her out, down through what she realized was a staging area built beneath the ring. It was also packed full of people, but after a moment she saw Tai Lung's head above the crowd. He looked absolutely thrilled with all the attention.

A different ox stepped in front of her, crossed his arms and shook his head.

"Let me in!" Tigress demanded. Her antelope friends began aggressively arguing her case to him. She was about to force her way past when Tai Lung spotted her.

"She's - " he called over the crowd, pointing at her. "Let her in, she's with me! You! You there! Bouncer - bouncer guy!"

The ox turned. Tai Lung gestured at Tigress. The ox allowed her through. She was pushed through the enthusiastic crowd towards a festive Tai Lung, who laughed and beckoned her to him. Someone had placed chunky wooden beads and strings of wildflowers around his neck. He snatched her out of the crowd and threw his arm around her shoulders, pressing his cheek tenderly to the top of his "girlfriend's" head to delight the nearby throng.

"I cannot believe you," she seethed.

"I know, I know, I'm unbelievable. Oh, thank you, thank you," he said as he accepted flowers from admirers. "If there's anything I know how to do, it's put on a show. You went over great, by the way."

She rolled her eyes and supported him. "That was incredibly stupid. You should have stayed down."

"What, and lose? If you expect to me lose a Mongolian shantytown prizefight you've got another thing coming."

"No, I'd expect you not to participate in a Mongolian shantytown prizefight in the first place."

He tutted. "Such a little Shifu. Scold me all you like my dear. Come on now, they're leading us to that table over there and I'd like to get off this knee."

They stopped at a low table table sitting on a platform, surrounded by big cushions. An antelope dancer looped another wildflower string around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. He grinned and tapped her nose. She giggled.

Tigress growled.

"If you want a real scolding it'll be about that knee," she said, helping him down to the platform.

He chuckled and placed his leg gingerly on a pillow. "Just a flesh wound. It's not as bad as it - ow ow ow -" he held his breath as he got his leg into place." - looks. Wow. Phew." He lay back and relaxed.

A musk ox standing next to Tai Lung gestured to his knee and handed him a bottle of liquor, along with a sack of coins so huge Tigress's eyes went wide. The referee and hall owners had bottles as well, which they raised to Tai Lung.

He grinned. "Bottoms up!" he said, and tipped the bottle into his mouth. Tigress watched in horror as Tai Lung downed two thirds of the bottle in one go. A great cheer went up and music started to play.

Tai Lung winced, coughed, and wiped his mouth. He saw Tigress's aghast look and laughed. Platters of food were brought to their table. The musk ox chuckled at them.

"Wife mad!" he said to Tai Lung in broken Mandarin, gesturing to Tigress. "Wife mad, eh?" He patted Tai Lung on the shoulder and laughed, wiggling his big eyebrows at her.

"Yes, wife mad. This wife's always mad," he said. He poured her a cup from his bottle. "Come now, drink this and let's not argue. I've just escaped twenty years of darkness, I don't need any more from you."

She frowned and crossed her arms. He rolled his eyes, exasperated.

"Don't just sit there with a sour face! I've provided for us! I got you what you wanted!' He pushed a plate of food at her. ""Eat! Be happy!"

Tigress closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She slowly reached for the teapot and poured herself a cup.

"Thank you! Gracious for a change, imagine that."

"Buying you lunch wasn't gracious?"

"Lunch? I'll buy you a house! Look at this!" He swung the sack of coins at her. It landed against her thigh, heavy as a sick toddler. He chuckled. "We are set for the Valley of Peace, dear sweet little wife."

"Don't call me that. And I already thanked you."

He tilted his head at her and chuckled. His eyes had a slight glaze from alcohol. "What is it?" he asked. "You miss your boyfriend?"

"My boyfriend?"

"The Dragon Warrior."

Tigress burst out laughing.

Tai Lung sat up in surprise, wincing when the motion pulled at his knee. His look of utter bafflement was priceless.

"Never," she choked. "Never."

"What?" Tai Lung said, incredulous. "Not even the Dragon Warrior is good enough for you?"

She burst out laughing again.

"Tell me about this Po," he demanded.

"No."

"No?"

"No. It will just upset you."

"And if I'm upset then what? What?" he said. "I lose mind with rage? Wreak destruction on this awesome party?" He rolled his eyes and settled back in his seat. "Hypervigiliant. Paranoid. You are Shifu's daughter! Always expecting the worst. Setting a place at the table for the worst!"

"I only - "

"Tigress, observe the situation before you. I am exhausted from a ten round tournament, seated quite peacefully at a table heavy with food, flowers round my neck, with a mildly injured knee, having just drunk a lot of Mongolian firewater. Unless there's a fire I'm firmly locked to this spot." He shook his head a little, eyelids drooping. "Maybe even if there is a fire. Depends how close it is." He sighed happily. "I'm in a terrific mood. Not even news of my supposed better could kill it."

"Your better?" Tigress blurted. "No."

His eyes widened. He leaned closer, leaning on his hand. "Oh. Oh I like this."

"You're not going to."

"Go ahead. Hit me with it."

She took a deep breath. "The Dragon Warrior is a panda."

He blinked. "A…panda? Like Shifu?"

She shook her head. "No. A big fat black and white panda. Do you remember Mr. Ping's?"

He blinked. "The noodle shop?"

"He works there."

Tai Lung blinked, processing this. He spoke slowly as if to ensure he'd heard her correctly.

"The Dragon Warrior is a panda - the big fat black and white kind - that works at the noodle shop?"

She nodded. "Oh, I forgot to mention, he doesn't know a bit of kung-fu. And I don't know any more than that. Sorry."

Tai Lung blinked. Blinked again.

"You're messing with me," he said.

"I'm not."

He gave her a dismissive, tipsy wave and chuckled. "Don't want to talk, fine. Trying to protect your boyfriend even now? Admirable. Sweet, even. He's a lucky man. But were he worthy of you he'd have faced me himself. Reconsider him. You can do better."

"Oh can I?" Tigress raised an eyebrow. "Looks like that entire bottle of whiskey is starting to kick in."

"Hmm." He nodded. "It's hitting me quite hard now."

"Who'd have thought, after not having a drop for twenty years?" Tigress said, and poured herself more tea. "How's the knee?"

"Don't know. Can't feel it. But it's fine. You know why?"

"Why?"

"Because I am a war machine."

"Oh, I see," Tigress said indulgently.

"That's what I was trained for. To annihilate armies, to take down strongholds. Specifically."

She paused. "Really?"

"Yes. I was to vanguard the Imperial Forces. The Dragon Warrior as the tip of the Emperor's blade! Leading his armies to victory, hailed by a thousand flags, subject of a thousand songs," he said, his voice wistful. "A pretty picture, isn't it? Shifu did always paint such a pretty picture of the future." He sighed. "What pictures does he paint for you, I wonder?"

"You won't turn me against my Master."

"I don't have to. He'll do it himself."

Tigress growled.

"No! No growls! No growls at the party!" Tai Lung cried. "And I don't want to talk about him. He's the last thing I want to think about. I think I prefer to think about you." He leaned towards her on the cushions, chin in hand. "Tell me my dear, how are you planning on killing me?"

"W-what?"

"You said you would kill me painlessly. And silently. Tell me how."

"I-" Tigress began, but she had no method and both of them knew it. She sagged her shoulders and gave him a resigned look.

Tai Lung burst out laughing. Loud, long, drunken laughs. He fell on his side.

"You're cute," he said when he recovered, wiping his eyes. He rolled on his back and looked up at her from the cushions. "Does Shifu ever tell you you're cute?"

Her heart fluttered but she turned up her nose. "No."

He snickered. "Does - does he make you run the stairs when you're bad?"

"Yes. He should have made you run the stairs more, I think."

"Oh I ran 'em plenty." He pointed his fingers, waving them along to the music. "It's been twenty years since I've heard music. We should dance! Come dance with me."

"You can't even stand."

"I can stand plenty." He pawed at her wrist. "Come dance.

Tigress sighed and placed her teacup down. "Tell you what. If you can even sit up, I'll dance with you all night long."

He put his fist in the air. "Challenge accepted! Brace yourself for sitting up!" He leaned on his elbow in a misguided attempt to do…something. He winced. "Room's spinning. You just - you just stay right there." He pointed at her. Closed one eye, as though trying to pinpoint her specific location. Unsuccessfully tried to figure out how to operate his body. After a moment he laid back and let his arm fall. He gave a defeated sigh.

"You're a terrible person," he said.

"I'm the worst," she replied, sipping her tea. "Sleep it off, war machine."


	4. Chapter 4

Tai Lung woke as the sun rose.

"Did I pass out at my own party?" he blearily asked Tigress, who hadn't slept, choosing instead to drink tea and people watch all night, deep in thought.

"You passed out not even an hour into your own party," Tigress replied.

He tried to sit up, wincing. "How rude of me."

"No one seemed to hold it against you," Tigress said.

That wasn't true. People made fun of him the entire night.

"Good to know," he muttered. "Nice folks, the Mongolians." He tried to get up off the bench and remembered his knee was damaged. He moved his leg experimentally.

"How is it?" Tigress asked.

"Ugh." He made a sick face. "Fine, I think, if I rest it for a day or two."

"How is it fine? You were hit with an axe."

"A very blunt axe. It's a tournament, not death match. Broke the skin but I don't believe there's any lasting damage." He gingerly felt the wound. "Everything is in place."

"How does it feel?'

"Hurts! Hurts a lot. So does my head." He groaned softly, looking miserable. "Be nice and get me some water, Tigress, please."

o

During the previous evening Tigress used some of the money to secure accommodation for the two of them.

"Here it is," she said, helping him into a very well appointed yurt close to the tournament tent. She deposited him onto a large pile of multicolored cushions beneath a gaudy fake chandelier. It smelled like herbs and perfume. Silk scarves with suggestive themes hung from the rafters.

"This is for us?" he said, raising an eyebrow at her.

Tigress rolled her eyes. "It's not for us, it's for you. Mine is a few doors down. I know they're … tawdry, but they're all that was left."

"No no, I like it." He yawned and stretched his arms over his head, then relaxed on the cushions with a contended look. His eyes went heavy-lidded as he regarded her. It made her entire body snap to attention. "I'm all for a dirty yurt."

"Good," she said shortly, looking away. Her heart pounded. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

He smiled slyly. She gave him a warning look and he chuckled.

"Water. Food. The basics will do. Thank you."

"No, thank you," she said. "You've provided well for us, though I can't say I approve of the method."

He shrugged. "Of course not. You're your father's daughter."

"Shifu is my master. He is not my father."

"He adopted you, didn't he?"

"Yes."

He tilted his head. "Then what does that make you, exactly?"

"That is between my Master and I."

He tutted, rolling his eyes. "Fine, fine fine. On your way then."

"You said you wanted food, what do you want?"

He shrugged. "Something in a bun. Something on a stick. Surprise me. And while you're out buy yourself a coat. It will be very cold soon. You're small and you've only your summer fur, you will definitely need a coat. Thick one, good one."

She nodded and turned to leave.

"But before you go, would you prop my leg up please?" he asked sweetly.

Tigress sighed and rolled her eyes. She gingerly lifted his leg and shoved some pillows beneath it.

"Thank you! Now could you kiss it and make it better?"

She scowled at him then lightly slapped his kneecap. They both cried out in pain.

"I forgot about that," Tigress said, wincing and rubbing her knee.

"Serves you right! Now go get me some food!" Tai Lung hooted. He reached out and pushed her towards to door by her behind. She gasped and slapped his paw away, flushing hot at the contact.

"Touch me again and I'll feed you your hand," she growled.

"Yes, yes," he said, grinning with amusement. He waved her off. "Happy shopping, darling, with all that money I won you."

She clenched her fists and strode out of the tent seething.

o

They remained in the city for a few days, during which Tai Lung rested his knee and she went about purchasing supplies. She avoided his yurt as much as possible. She thought only of returning home. Once they reached China - however long that would be - she could she could send a message back to the Jade Palace letting them know her situation. They very likely thought her dead. Were they at this moment lighting incense and candles, ringing bells to usher her spirit on it's way? Her heart crumpled at the thought of her friends grieving before her empty grave.

She shook it off, collected herself, and slapped the canvas of Tai Lung's yurt with the flat of her hand.

"Come in," he sang.

She entered and heaved her shopping onto the floor. He lolled lazily on his cushions. It looked like he hadn't moved in hours. He was surrounded by empty food bowls and whatever of interest he pawed out of the supplies she'd been gradually bringing to tent.

She looked at him with disgust.

"Bedrolls," she said, pointing at the pile. "Rice for four weeks. Flint. Bandages. Dried fruit, dried tofu, soy beans. Firewood. They had the hard tack today. What have you been doing?"

Tai Lung gave a brief, indulgent sigh of ennui. He gazed up at the ceiling. "You know there's exactly two hundred sixty two fake crystals hanging on that chandelier?" He chuckled. "But I wonder how many women have swung from it."

"I don't think you'll entice many women to swing from your chandelier if you can't even keep your yurt clean. It's shocking in here."

He chuckled. "Not the prissy ones, anyway. Your highness." He flicked his tail, sending the empty bowls into the air, then quickly kicked them again so he could use his tail to guide them gently into a pile at his feet. "Happy?"

"Nice trick," Tigress muttered. She picked the pile of bowls up and placed them just outside the yurt door.

"What have you been up to all day?" he asked

"Buying supplies," she said, gesturing at the pile. She picked up a small round bamboo steam basket and placed it before him. "Your dinner is in here. Is there anything else you require?"

"No, this is fine. Thank you. Tell me, are you - where are you going?"

"To my yurt, to sleep."

He blinked. "Oh. You aren't going to join me for dinner?"

"I already ate. Goodnight, Tai Lung."

The disappointment in his face was so raw and unguarded it almost made her want to relent. But she hardened her heart and turned towards the door.

"All right then," Tai Lung sighed. "Goodnight. Enjoy your yurt. By yourself. Alone."

"That's the idea," she said.

o

They set out as soon as he could properly walk. She offered to take the pack but he insisted on carrying it.

"I won't hear of it. This is barely a burden to me. You're small, this is too heavy for you."

"I've carried packs far heavier." She shrugged. "But if you insist."

The pack and his knee slowed him down. That was good. The longer it took to get to the Valley of Peace, the longer her Master and friends had to live. She would gladly find more things for him to carry if it kept him at this glacial pace. It also allowed her her freedom of him, which she took liberally, at times walking a mile ahead. She found relief in the space. She spent most of the day at a comfortable distance, doing drills as she walked. It felt good to exert herself.

They spent days in this silence. She only interacted with him when she needed something from the pack, studiously avoiding his eyes, giving one word responses to any attempt at communication. And he did attempt.

"What have you been up to all day?" he asked.

"Meditating."

"You meditate more than Oogway."

She nodded. He put the pack down before her but did not allow her to open it, choosing instead to lean on it casually.

"So Tigress," he began.

She bristled. She was tired of his constant attempts a conversation.

"Just give me the pack," she seethed, her voice dripping with acid.

He reared back. "Good lord, I just want to talk to you! Person to person! I've just spent twenty damned years in silence and you're a steel wall. I cannot bear it any longer, come down off your damned tower and have mercy on a poor man!"

He stood so straight as he asked, not pleading at all. His chin was held high. He looked down his nose at her. His haughtiness sparked something within her, like an ember tossed onto a trail of gunpowder.

Have mercy on a poor man?" Tigress asked slowly."Is that how you see yourself?"

"I-"

"You shattered my Master," Tigress said.

Tai Lung looked taken aback. "I meant-"

"Shattered him," Tigress hissed. "His heart has not stopped aching for you for a single day in twenty years. Every day I watch him and see the limp in his soul and know there is nothing - nothing - I can ever do to heal it. Shifu spent the best of his youth and the best of his love on you and in return you left him with ashes. You left me with ashes."

"Tigress - "

"Quiet!" she commanded. "I came after you to protect him, even if it meant my death, because he is my Master and I love him. What little I've had of him. What little you left of him. But you had all of him, Tai Lung. You had him and the Valley of Peace and the Jade Palace. You had your incredible talent, years of glory ahead of you - and you threw them away. Everything I stand for, you squandered. When you are so much." She lifted her chin and looked him straight in the eye. "You are offensive to me."

Tai Lung was still. His eyes were wide, his ears back. He took a very long, very deep breath.

"Thank you for laying that out," he said flatly. He handed the bag over to her. "Here's the pack."

He slowly stepped away. She opened the pack and began digging through it furiously, unable to remember what it was she was looking for in the first place. Her heart pounded.

He silently began to circle her. His gaze weighed a ton, so thick she could have pulled it around her shoulders like a cloak. He kept circling as she took a container of dumplings from the pack and tied it shut. She lifted the pack and swung it over her shoulder to carry it, but Tai Lung stopped her, growling. He tore the pack from her grasp, slung it onto his back, and walked off ahead of her, leaving Tigress in a perfect circle of his snowy footprints.

o

She didn't want dumplings out of the pack. She wanted her coat. Now she was freezing and carrying dumplings.

He walked ahead of her the entire afternoon, stealing a glance back every so often. He was too far off for her to see what was in his eyes and she didn't want to. She wished there were trees she could jump into. She enjoyed traveling by hopping from branch to branch when she could. But no, there were no trees out here in flat, freezing, stupid, stupid, stupid Mongolia.

She chided herself for her outburst. But everything about him offended her. He was intrinsically offensive, right down to the desire he sparked in her. He was an insult to her universe and she couldn't hold it in any longer. Though she should have, for the sake of peace. Now she wasn't sure if there would be peace to be had with him again.

He put the pack down as the sun started to fall behind the horizon. He bent on one knee and punched a huge divot in the ground in order to build a fire. He was very good at building fires, she noticed, both at lighting and keeping them going. Her fire tended to puff out in the middle of the night, leaving her looking longingly in the distance at his still going strong. But she would not let herself creep over, opting instead of remain huddled beneath her blanket in the cold.

She caught up with Tai Lung and went directly for the pack to gather her share of firewood, trying to be quick about it.

"You're staying here tonight," Tai Lung commanded.

"Oh am I?" she replied archly.

"You are. There isn't enough wood left for two fires, look for yourself. Wood is scarce. If we don't run across any traders tomorrow we're in for a very cold night."

"There's been plenty of traders on the road."

He shook his head. "Don't take that for granted. There will only be one fire tonight, and it's right here. But you're welcome to sleep out in the cold if you prefer. You didn't even eat those, give me those." He gestured to her container of uneaten dumplings.

She handed them over. He retrieved a pot and water and put them on the fire, then settled back and looked at her. It was not quite a leer, but he had a way of making clear he felt welcome to look at her as thoroughly and for as long as he pleased.

"Yes?" she said in response to his insolent gaze.

He shifted his focus to his claws. "Tell me something," he said.

Tigress held her breath. Here it comes.

"I have a hard time believing Shifu would send you and your team to protect him. Not when he is fully aware of what I can do. I'd imagine he'd have ordered you not to pursue me. And your teammates, they are not nearly so hot-headed and reckless as you. They wouldn't have run to face me if not for you, would they? You're their leader so they followed. But Shifu - Shifu did not order this."

"You're assuming quite a lot," Tigress huffed.

"I assume nothing. When you fight a person you know a person, and I fought the five of you. So, Tigress, are you here at your master's bidding or your own?"

She looked at the fire. Sighed. There was no use in denying it. "Shifu wanted to follow Oogway's plan, which was…not a good plan."

The corner of Tai Lung's mouth curled. "His judgement can't be trusted about anything," he growled darkly.

"You no longer have to worry about his judgement. He's gone."

Tai Lung's eyebrows rose. "Hm." He gave the dumplings a stir. "So, as we've established that Shifu did not send you here - " he glanced up at her for confirmation - "has it occurred to you that you are sticking your little nose into matters that are none of your concern?"

"How is the safety of my Master and my home none of my concern?"

"When you are powerless to do anything about it," he growled. "You cannot defeat me, Shifu knows that. You should have obeyed your Master. But you did not, so now here we are. And seeing as find ourselves here, let me make one thing clear to you: the score I have to settle with Shifu is between him and I alone. I have no quarrel with you unless you make one."

There was a hiss as water met fire.

"The dumplings are boiling over," Tigress said. "Wether it was my business or not is irrelevant. It's my business now," Tigress said. "And I will stop you."

He smirked. "How do you propose to do that, I wonder?"

"I don't know, but when I see my chance I will take it."

"Hm," Tai Lung said. "And what until then?"

She was silent.

He pushed the dumplings towards her. "Eat these."


	5. Chapter 5

They ate in silence. It annoyed her.

"You wanted to talk," Tigress said. "So start talking."

He glared at her. "So polite. Did her highness have a subject in mind?"

"Anything. The landscape. The weather. Current events."

"Sadly I'm not up to date on my current events. I've been in prison for twenty years, or did you forget?"

"You keep mentioning it, so let's talk about that," Tigress snapped. "Prison. How was it?"

He blinked. "Why would you want to know?"

"I've never been to prison. I don't know what it's like."

"Are you suggesting I should lay out my life for your entertainment?"

She rolled her eyes, exasperated. "No. If you prefer we can sing. Or exchange recipes. But you can't pick a fight with me about talking then just sit in silence."

He went quiet for a while, deep in thought. Just as she got used to the silence he spoke.

"Prison was long and it was dark. No sunlight." He glanced upwards. "No stars for twenty years."

When she looked at him his eyes were far away. She hadn't expected a genuine answer.

"It was said …" she began, unsure if she should actually pursue this thread of inquiry. "It was said that you were restrained with your arms tied to hanging boulders, wearing a pressure-point shell."

He nodded.

She looked him up and down. "If that's true, how did you come out looking like that?"

He smirked. "Looking like what?"

"You're …" her voice drifted as she thought of a way to phrase her question that would only inspire minimal gloating in him. "You're in excellent physical condition for someone who was immobilized for so long."

He smiled smugly. "So glad you noticed."

How the hell could I not notice? she thought.

"I don't understand how that's possible."

"Tortoise magic," he grumbled. "I very much doubt you're familiar with the shell Oogway used to keep me immobile. How it works."

Tigress looked off to the side. "I …I saw a scroll, once. Oogway's schematics. Shifu showed me."

He looked surprised. "He did?"

"Yes, as a warning. When I was ten I lost my patience with a school bully. She was a goose and I punched her in the neck. Purposely. I put her in the hospital. Shifu was enraged. He brought me the scroll and told me this was the punishment for those who misuse kung-fu, and that this person was his own son. That was the first I learnt of you." She shivered at the memory. "It terrified me."

"It should. It is a terrifying device," he said. "The pins in the shell work by blocking chi, causing complete immobility, total numbness. But Oogway, in his genius, found a way to not only block chi, but pause it. It left me perfectly preserved. Like a jar of pickles." He smirked. "I was a lot like a jar of pickles if you think about it. Put in a cold dark place and stored for future use."

"Stored for future use?"

"Oh yes. Why do you suppose Oogway and Shifu did not simply put me to death? They had more than enough reason to execute me publicly had they wished. I'm sure plenty of people in the Valley of Peace would have enjoyed that. Did you ever ask yourself why? Why go to all the trouble of making the jade shell, of building Chorch-Gom? The prison employed one thousand guards, year round. They hollowed out a mountain just to keep me. Why go to all the expense? And who do you suppose paid for all that?"

Tigress furrowed her brow. "I … I never thought about it."

"Of course not. And if Shifu told you, you'd be just as frightened of him as you were of me."

Tigress straightened and looked down her nose at Tai Lung. "I highly doubt that."

"Hear my tale," Tai Lung replied warningly. "I was trained, specifically, from a very young age, to be a -"

"A war machine, yes. You told me. Annihilate armies, take down strongholds."

"Yes. But what goes into annihilating an army? Think about that. You're sent in to single handedly destroy an army. What sort of state are you in? What has been perpetuated in you for years to make you good at this? And what are you good at, exactly?" He looked into the fire. "What I am good at is destruction. My talent is death. My art is the massacre." He met Tigress's eyes. "I was trained to leave nothing alive."

Tigress was skeptical. "I find it hard to believe Shifu would train anyone that way."

"No? Not even if Shifu believed the cause was just? The Emperor himself made a special request of him. How could he refuse the Emperor, especially when he already had all the raw material he needed in me? And it was a such great honor to be asked to head a secret defense project! They needed the tip of the blade - a single warrior who could strike fear into the hearts of entire nations, and they came to Shifu to produce it. He could not resist that kind of challenge."

He wasn't lying, Tigress realized to her horror. Tai Lung truly believed what he was saying.

But that didn't make it true.

She shook her head. "Shifu loved you. He would not use his own son like that."

"He would, and he did," Tai Lung growled.

She went silent for a moment, holding down her instinct to argue Shifu's honor. "And he still said you were the Dragon Warrior?"

"Who else but the Dragon Warrior would lead the Imperial army? I would prevent far more deaths than I caused. I would be a force for justice! When I had the scroll I would become a righteous avenger borne on wings of light, my deeds smiled upon from the heavens." He shook his head. "Oogway did not agree."

"He saw darkness in you."

"The darkness Shifu put there!" Tai Lung shouted.

Tigress frowned at his outburst. "And Shifu lives with that regret every day."

"Good! Let him! If he is a house may I be the ghost that haunts it!" Tai Lung pounded his fist into the ground and fumed.

"Oogway agreed with this training?"

"No," Tai Lung said. "He did not agree with it, and as best I could tell he did not particularly care for me personally. Even when I was a child."

"Then why did he allow Shifu to continue?"

"Oogway rarely interferes with anything unless he decides it directly concerns him. Interesting, what he decides is simply one's 'path' and what he decides is his to meddle in. Interesting in that I can't make sense of it and neither can anyone else. Oogway could have prevented me. Instead he stood by and watched Shifu create something China would need to cage at great expense decades later." He sighed. "These are the Masters you worship. A lunatic and a war profiteer."

Tigress bristled but did not rise to the bait.

"Back to your question," Tai Lung continued. "I told you how I remained preserved. Would you like to know why?"

"Why?" she said drily.

"I was kept in that stasis, at such great expense, in case of the Emperor's need. In case China went to war. In case they needed whole armies destroyed. The Emperor paid for Chorch-Gom in its entirety just to house me for his future disposal. Should the need ever outweigh the risk, that is. Otherwise I could just rot there forever. Perhaps actually forever. I don't know if the shell would have allowed me to die." He sighed. "I'm fortunate it was only twenty years."

"How did you…" Tigress shook her head. "How did you stand it? How did you avoid losing your mind?"

"The shell."

"The paused chi preserved your mind as well?"

He went silent, seemed to consider his answer carefully. "In a manner of speaking. You see, Oogway put something extra inside the shell. A gift to me, I suppose. A kindness. Or the ultimate cruelty, I'm not sure which."

"What was it?"

"A needle that pressed upon a very specific point. Between the shoulders on the spine there is a very deep pressure point that, if pressed firmly enough, causes instant death. I knew that. What I did not know was that If pressed half as hard it causes a near-death. A numb oblivion. A living dream. Would you like to know how I discovered this?"

She silently waited for him to continue.

"I felt the needle the first time I awoke wearing the shell. From the moment I entered prison, all I had to do was push myself up into it hard enough and everything would be over. At first I was enraged at this. Insulted! Oogway, you demented old prick!" He snarled and swiped a burning log out of the fire. It hissed as it hit the snow. "But prison saps your will to live very quickly. As the months wore on the thought of the needle became too much to bear. One particularly bad day, after the guards had …."

He winced and trailed off.

"One day I decided I would accept Oogway's gift. I doubted what awaited me in the spirit realm would be good, but it had to be better than that misery. And do you know what happened? Do you want to know how sick Oogway is?"

Tigress's stomach churned. She didn't. She didn't want to know any of this. She regretted asking him to go on.

"Oogway placed the needle at the perfect depth, so I could launch myself into a thousand numb, nonsensical dreams, but I could never die. No matter how hard I tried I could not push that needle all the way in. And I did try." He took a deep breath. "But now I've escaped that hell, and I'll have my scroll. When I have the scroll all this will be set right. The power within it will finally turn me into that warrior on wings of light, my deeds smiled upon from the heavens."

"You could have been that warrior anyway."

He did not respond to this. It was as if he didn't hear it. She felt a bright burst of frustration.

"Do you understand?"

"No, because you're talking nonsense. If I am denied the scroll than I cannot 'be the Dragon Warrior anyway.' That's not how it works."

"Tai Lung, you're …. you fight like nothing I've ever seen. The Furious Five have never been defeated by a single warrior before. Are you brutish? Yes. Are you arrogant? Yes. Are you shortsighted and impatient? Yes. Are you -"

"Are you going somewhere with this?"

"Yes. I'm going to tell you what you're not."

"And what's that?"

"Stupid. You're not stupid, Tai Lung. You are capable and you are smart and though I may doubt many things about you, I do not doubt that you could do anything you set your mind to, and probably do it better than anyone else. Every possibility in the world is open to you except one."

"That remains to be seen."

Tigress made a sound of frustration and stabbed a dumpling with a chopstick. She wanted to shake him. But instead, she merely said, "You don't need the scroll to become whatever you want to be. Not when you are already so much."

He growled and gave her a dark, warning look.

She raised her eyebrows. "It isn't - "

"Can I tell you how endearing that is? How very, very sweet?" he snapped. "Such a lovely heart you have. It's incredibly appealing."

"You don't need the scroll, Tai Lung."

"It's not given on need, it's given on merit and I did everything asked of me. Everything and more! I bled from every pore. I trained until my bones cracked. I slept out in the rain. No fun, no simple pleasures of life. I spent every evening mastering every single damn scroll in that library." He looked at his hands. Flexed his fingers. "I punched the ironwood trees until I felt nothing."

She looked down at her own hand.

"So did I," she said softly.

"Then you understand. I earned that scroll. But when the time came…." he grimaced and made his hand into a fist.

"I do understand, Tai Lung," she said softly. "I understand more than you know. I dreamt about it my whole life. I dreamt about it the way most girls dream of their wedding day."

He paused, taken aback by her tone. His eyes widened.

"I was wondering about that," he said quietly. "Did Shifu-"

"Lead me to believe it would be me? He hinted at it. He knew it was his destiny to train the Dragon Warrior, so he said it could be any of us. But never none of us," she said. "It went unsaid that he thought it would be me. After Oogway announced he would be naming the Dragon Warrior Zeng even stopped by the bunkhouse to measure me for a new formal outfit. Silk. Green and gold." She sighed. "I was so ready."

"Yes," Tai Lung said softly.

"Limitless power," she said.

"Yes," he said, with a rumble of lust, eyes gleaming.

"Perhaps then … perhaps with limitless power Shifu would be as proud of me as … as he was of you."

Tai Lung blinked, the lusty gleam in his eyes softening. He seemed at a loss for what to say. After a long moment, he stammered, "He is - Shifu is - proud of you. He must be. You're a fine warrior, there's no possible way he isn't."

"Thank you," she said, glancing up at him. "He is. To a degree. But you're a hard act to follow. He's always compared me to you, I know he has. But I can't ever live up to your legacy. Who could?" She gave a rueful laugh. "Only a panda, apparently."

"Wait, you - you were serious about that?"

"About the panda? Yes."

"Good god, I thought you were joking. And he really doesn't know kung fu?"

"Not a bit. He can barely get up the stairs to the Jade Palace. That's who Oogway picked."

"But - but - but - " Tai Lung sputtered. "But the ball of fire!"

"He fell out of the sky on a chair he tied fireworks to."

"What? Why would he - why - who did - what?"

"I don't understand it either, Tai Lung! Believe me, I wish I did. I wish - honestly, I wish - " Tigress said, beginning to laugh. "I wish I understood. Po neither earned nor asked for the scroll. It seems whoever wants the Dragon Scroll is not who is destined to have it, seeing as I don't have the scroll but I am in Mongolia."

Tai Lung shook his head in disbelief. "I got prison and Mongolia."

Tigress smiled. "True. You win."

"No," he said, laughing grimly. "We both really, really lose."

"Only if you choose to look at it that way."

He huffed but didn't respond. Tai Lung went silent after that, tending to the fire, deep in thought. Tigress relaxed a bit. She made up her sleeping roll. She lay back and looked up at the stars for a long time.

She grew sleepy. When she turned to look at Tai Lung he was already looking at her. It wasn't a lascivious stare. His expression was soft.

"That goose," he said. "The one you punched in the neck."

"What about her?"

"She really must have had it coming."

Tigress tried not to smile. She did not succeed.

Tai Lung grinned. "She did, didn't she?"

She laughed softly and rolled on her side. "Good night, Tai Lung."

o


	6. Chapter 6

Tigress woke to Tai Lung sitting before the fire at sunrise, his back to her. He stretched his arms above his head with a low growl of pleasure, then relaxed and lifted his nose to a sudden breeze. Closed his eyes and smiled, enjoying the wind on his face. This same wind carried the smell of his fire-warmed fur directly to Tigress, filling her with his scent - complete with that same delicious thing she'd detected before. Not delicious like food, but it filled her with a similar craving.

He didn't know she was awake. She took the opportunity to study him.

Tai Lung, perhaps feeling this, glanced over his shoulder at her. She shut her eyes to feign sleep. She heard a brief grunt of effort and the crunch of snow. She opened her eyes just as he landed, flipping to his feet, still facing away from her. He took a deep breath, shaking his limbs out. His shoulders were huge, the spots mesmerizing in the breeze. He bowed briefly to the plain, then did a series of backflips away from the fire, landing in a defensive pose. He ran through drills, the same warm-up drills she'd done every morning of her life under Shifu's instruction. He executed every move perfectly, gorgeously, punctuated by growls of effort that demanded her attention.

It grew uncomfortably hot in her sleeping roll. She shut her eyes against the vision of him for a moment, but opened them again. She slowly drew the covers up over her nose, trying to obscure her eyes. God forbid he see her watching him like this.

He kicked three times, punched, twice, flipped into the air, landed on one hand, spun and leapt to his feet. It was less like watching him train and more like watching him dance. He was so huge, yet so precise. So subtle.

She grew entranced.

Stop that, she scolded herself. Stop fluttering around like -

She winced. Grimaced. She turned in her bedroll, away from the vision of Tai Lung. Those words - Shifu's words - still cut through her like he'd said them yesterday.

I didn't even do anything, she thought. I just wanted to see him.

She'd only been thirteen when that lion, that man unlike anything she'd ever seen, strode up the stairs to the Jade Palace. He was tall and gold and dressed finely, his mane well manicured, a huge sword strapped to his back. She'd stopped in surprise before the gate. He told her he was there to see Master Shifu but she could barely hear his words. She'd never seen someone so beautiful. She stared. She didn't know better than to stare. This was entirely new. She'd never been so bodily arrested by another being, his voice, his eyes, his scent.

Tigress winced with the memory. He'd had to repeat himself. He was there to see her Master, he said again. She snapped to attention, stuttering- this - this way, follow me sir - barely able to walk straight she was so unable to tear her eyes from him. He smiled at her. She was thrilled, only seeing that his smile was kind, not that it was knowing.

She scampered ahead, thrust open the door to the training hall where Shifu struggled through his evening meditations.

Master! she called out. He turned, annoyed. Master, it's - it's - look!

Her stomach churned. She'd been so excited. Chirpy. As though Shifu should have been as thrilled about their handsome guest as she was.

Shifu gave her a look, came to the door and snapped to attention when he saw who it was.

Lord Xan! You've arrived early! I apologize that no one was there to receive you at the gate!

Not at all, I was greeted by your - the lion glanced at the entranced young Tigress and chuckled - your young one here.

Lord Xan turned and thanked her for her help, still with that knowing and kind smile. The sort you give to a child, Tigress now knew. Her little eyes widened and she tried to stutter a reply to this god, but only managed a nervous stutter. He was so beautiful.

Tigress, Shifu said.

She continued to hover, entranced, failing to realize that in his thanking her Lord Xan was also dismissing her so he might speak with Shifu privately.

Shifu's lips tightened the way they did when he was extremely displeased. He asked Lord Xan to go inside and he'd be with him momentarily. Once the lion was out of sight Shifu gestured her down to his level and hissed, his voice pure venom:

Stop fluttering around him like a lovesick little moth. Go back to the bunkhouse before you bring dishonor on the Jade Palace. Go!

Tigress turned to glass. Her master might as well have slid a cold dagger into her eye. She haltingly saluted him. Turned back to the bunkhouse as ordered, vibrating with shock. Shifu had never, ever spoken to her with such acid. His words carved into her, twisting her joy in Lord Xan into something sick and heavy. She didn't know exactly what she'd done wrong, but it must have been really wrong. She'd humiliated her Master. She'd threatened dishonor on her home. She went back to the bunkhouse and shut the door to her room behind her, then put her hands in fists and wept. Shifu had praised her just that afternoon and now she was awful. So shameful she'd nearly stained the very marble of a five hundred year old temple.

She swore never to so much as think of Lord Xan again. It didn't work, of course. She thought of him all the time. She never saw him again but he remained with her. Even years later she still thought of him at night, her hand moving between her legs, biting her lip to stay silent lest the paper bunkhouse walls reveal her. That was her secret - that much of him she guiltily kept- but in her waking life she'd firmly rebuffed anything that so much as resembled romantic attention, much to Shifu's approval. Her being impenetrable always pleased him. Made him proud.

Of course it wasn't difficult. No real challenge to her will was offered by the rabbits and geese of the Valley of Peace, or by her team, or other Masters she battled alongside when she was older. Lord Xan did not walk into her life every day.

"Are you going to stay in bed all morning?" Tai Lung asked. He stood over her, panting from his drills. He tutted. "Lazy lazy woman."

Tigress turned and looked up at him. He smiled down at her. Her heart fluttered.

Just like a lovesick little moth.

No, Tigress begged it. Please no.

Tai Lung frowned. "You all right?"

She shut her eyes. Hardened her heart.

"I'm fine," she said. "I'm getting up."

o

"Tell me about your bug friend," Tai Lung commanded.

It was midday. Though it was cold out the sun pounded down relentlessly.

"My bug friend?" Tigress startled. She'd spent the morning walking in silent disappointment with herself.

"Your bug friend. You have a tiny little bug on your team. When the four of you came running across the bridge I didn't understand what was holding it up. Imagine my surprise! I've never seen a warrior like that. Tell me about him."

Tai Lung's chin lifted to the breeze as he awaited his answer. He smiled slightly, perfectly pleased with himself and his surroundings, like a king looking confidently over his domain. It was a heartening sight. Tigress made herself look away. She shook her head and said nothing.

"You've gone quiet again," Tai Lung said.

"Why do you always insist on speaking to me?"

"Because I want to speak to you," he replied simply.

Tigress bristled. "You don't get everything you want," she said, and stalked off ahead of him.

o

Later in the day they came across a trading encampment on the road, just a few large yurts flinching against the wind. Tigress arrived before Tai Lung. He'd kept his distance the whole day, sulking, perhaps, somewhat. Whenever she glanced back she saw that his gait had a slight defeat in it. Seeing this twisted her inside more than it should. She had the impulse to turn and walk back to him, to make amends. But that flutter was dangerous and obscene and she couldn't bear to feel it again.

A goat sitting by a small determined fire directed Tigress to the largest of the yurts. She ducked inside. It was a huge space, filled with traders at mats and low tables, and people looking to trade - goats, antelope, oxen, and to her amazement a family of huge white bears. In the middle was a bonfire flickering through the holes of a of huge stone urn, radiating heat. Around that were piles of faded old cushions. She decided to head there. She took a seat on a cushion, her tail curled around her and her chin on her knee. The heat embraced her. She closed her eyes and sighed.

After a long time wavering between awake and asleep she became aware of someone approaching her from behind. She was just about to open her eyes to find the source of the annoyance when someone next to her said, "Blah!"

She jumped. Next to her was a cloaked figure with clawed hands wearing a huge, awful, green-scaled mask with fangs and a long wavy tongue.

"Ugh!" Tigress said.

Tai Lung chuckled and pulled the mask up over his head and chuckled. "Did I startle you?"

He looked boyish. Charming. Tigress grimaced and turned back towards the fire. "I hope you didn't buy that. You'll get tired of carrying it around."

Tai Lung was silent. After a long moment he gave a great sigh and sat down on a cushion next to her. The fire warming his fur began to carry his scent. This annoyed her.

"And I found this," he said, and held something before her - a perfectly fresh, perfectly ripe peach. Her eyes widened. He placed it by her foot. "That is for you."

She looked at it, glowing in the firelight. It was beautiful and soft, smelled bright and juicy. Her mouth watered. But she turned away from it.

"You have it," she said.

"What? The guy had one. One. It's been twenty years since I've tasted a fresh peach and I am giving it to you."

She didn't reply. Looked at the fire.

Tai Lung made a sound of exasperation. "What is it going to take?" he snapped.

"What is what going to take?"

"For you to talk to me! You were perfectly sweet last night."

"I'm never perfectly sweet."

"Clearly," he huffed.

Tigress shut her eyes and furrowed her brow, hoping he'd take the hint and leave her alone, knowing that he would't. She could feel him now, readying himself to say something, make some grand pronouncement.

Whatever will it be? Tigress thought drily.

"I - " Tai Lung began, sounding frustrated. "I'm curious about you, is that so strange?"

Tigress looked at him out of the side of her eye.

"What!" Tai Lung burst. "What is there out here? There's snow and then there's snow and then there's you! You, who as a child punched a goose, but why? Why did you punch the goose? Will I ever know? You'll probably never tell me."

"I -"

"And why can you be so sweet one moment and then spend days marching through the snow with this bitter, pained look on your face, every moment, every goddam moment, all the time? What could possibly be bothering you so much? It's driving me insane!"

"I don't know, maybe this whole situation?" Tigress burst. "Do you think I should be happy to be stuck out here in Mongolia with you?"

"No, but if you stopped for a moment you might see that it's actually…" he struggled, looking for words. "It's … boring, but it's not all bad. The wastes and the wind and the clouds. The sky that lights up green at night. It's beautiful. It's freedom."

"You only think that because you spent twenty years in prison," Tigress said grimly.

"Then maybe that's what you need, twenty years in prison."

A spark lit in her chest. She caught it. She blew on it.

"How dare you," Tigress said softly.

Tai Lung blinked. "Sorry?"

The flame rose within her. "How dare you say I am anything like you?"

"I didn't mean - "

"You want me to be your friend?" Tigress pressed. "You are a murderer."

Tai Lung's ears went flat.

She smelled fear. Her blood went hot.

"How dare you sit here, playing with masks and bringing me peaches, talking about freedom - how do you live with yourself?" Tigress spat, her heart pounding. "How can you still stand upon the earth after what you did to the Valley of Peace? It was horrid. Unspeakable. The buildings you destroyed fell on people who watched you grow up! Who trusted you to protect them! And for what? For what, Tai Lung, why? How could you possibly - why?"

Tai Lung looked away, growling.

"Tell me what happened that night," she insisted. "You want to talk to me so much, then tell me why."

He shut his eyes. Took a deep breath and rose into himself. After a long moment he turned to her with a gaze made of iron.

"Do you want the truth?"

"Yes."

"Even though you will hate it?"

"Whatever it is, I hate it already," she nearly growled.

The corner of his mouth curled. "As you wish," he said.

There was a glimmer in his his eyes that made her fur stand on end. He was going to enjoy this, she realized.

Her heart filled with dread.

Tai Lung cleared his throat. "Well. Where to begin." He thought a moment, furrowing his brow. "I think it begins when I was thirteen. Young boy, training my heart out, but I was not advancing as quickly as the Emperor would have preferred. I'd begun to slack off a bit. Kung Fu held my interest less and less. I dreamt of traveling. Adventuring! Perhaps trying to locate my birth parents. Or at the very least locate some leopards so I could learn what that's all about. Maybe I'd even meet a nice girl in the process." He glanced at Tigress. "You know, normal things for a young man."

"Okay," Tigress said flatly.

"When I spoke to Shifu about these desires he assured me that there would be plenty of time after I was pronounced the Dragon Warrior to do anything I'd like. There'd be no limit to what I could do! But until then, I had to put those dreams aside and focus. Focus on the training and one day whatever I wanted would be mine. If I wanted to meet others of my kind I could simply draw them to me through the winds of the universe. If I wanted to travel there'd be no corner of the world where I wasn't welcomed warmly and with gratitude. And if it was girls I wanted, well! Good luck keeping them away!" Tai Lung gave a rueful chuckle. "Say what you will about Shifu, the man could sell snow to a blizzard."

"He is good at that," Tigress conceded.

"Sold the hell out of me. You should have seen it," he said. "The Emperor's generals came to inspect me once a year. They were pouring a lot of money into me and wanted to see how their investment was accruing. Usually this was in the form of, you know, a big little show, as Shifu loved to do. A demonstration. Come out, kick the hell out of some dummies, dodge some flaming arrows, do a few big flips, be dashing and impressive, bow, back to that evening's scrolls. But not this time. This time, they took me into a room alone. Away from Shifu. He let them take me.

"So it was just me and these three warlords, in a small room, alone. They began to ask me questions, for hours and hours. They made me swear my fealty to the Emperor over and over, and loud and louder. Then they began to ask me all sorts of … personal things. Weird things. Things I will not repeat to you, which I did not answer readily. They noted my resistance. Didn't seem to like it. And then, finally, after laying me bare in this way, they asked me what I would do if ordered to destroy a hospital."

"A … a hospital?" Tigress asked.

"A hospital. Or a holy temple filled with nuns. A fortress whose occupants were starved out and too weak to fight back." He paused for a moment. "An enemy palace which also happened to contain a wedding party."

Tigress's brow furrowed.

"I knew I was supposed to give them to answers they wanted, but this time I wasn't sure. They couldn't possibly want me to agree to do these horrible things?" He shook his head. "I figured it was a test of morals. Surely they wanted the Tip of the Blade to be discerning? To know when and where mercy should be applied? So, that was how I answered. I said proudly that I would attack none of those targets, because they were filled with non-combatants. It would serve no purpose.

"And they asked, even under orders? Under the direct orders of the Son of Heaven? Even under direct order of the Emperor, you would not destroy a hospital full of the sick and wounded?

"I'd answered incorrectly. I knew it. So I said that, under the direct order of the Son of Heaven, I suppose I would have to." He shook his head. "That, of course, was not what they wanted to hear. They thanked me, dismissed me, and let me tell you I lived in dread. Surely I'd messed everything up beyond repair. I'd thrown my destiny away on a bad answer, and Shifu would be so angry and so disappointed with me - and that was … unacceptable." He winced. "I survived on his pride. It my very was food and air."

Tigress's breath caught in her throat.

"Later that night Shifu came to me while I studied. I hadn't studied much, I kept reading the same few lines over and over in my dread. He sat down, and he told me that the Emperor's men were happy with how my training had progressed but they feared I lacked resolve. Unless this problem could be addressed, that, as they say, was that for my being the Tip of the Blade. And the Dragon Warrior.

"I told Shifu about the invasive questions I was asked. He said that the higher classes could be a little odd and I'd just have to humor them. I told him that they wanted me to destroy hospitals and temples full of innocent people. And that I wasn't sure I could do that, even if asked by the Emperor. It horrified me. I remember being horrified, anyway." He took a deep breath. "That was just the way of it, Shifu said, that was simply the way of war. Sometimes terrible things must be done in war, awful things. Things a kung fu master would normally never take part in, but the role of the Dragon Warrior was to be strong enough to bear that burden for the good of China. And he knew I was strong enough, he knew I was Dragon Warrior. It was my destiny! It was always my destiny.

"But … after this … I began to have … doubts. I told Shifu this. And he … his entire demeanor towards me changed. He went cold to me until I was nearly suffocating for his praise. He was making me suffer, he was intentionally making me suffer. And I knew it. Had he done that when I was older I may have defended myself to him. But at thirteen I was still too young. I assumed I deserved his displeasure for my blasphemy."

Tigress grimaced. Her stomach churned.

"Finally, he sat me down and asked me what I wanted. To be the Dragon Warrior, I said. Never anything else, everything else I said before was nonsense. Good god, I was slavish with hunger. And he asked me if I was willing - if I had the resolve - to do whatever it took? Even if it was unpleasant?" Tai Lungs mouth curled. "Even if we could never tell Oogway?"

"What?" Tigress whispered.

"What indeed. Here I am, just a boy, wondering what in the world we couldn't tell Oogway about. But I agree. He makes me agree three times. Then Shifu places before me five black scrolls."

"From the Hall of Warriors?" Tigress asked. "I don't remember any black scrolls."

He shook his head. "Not from the Hall of Warriors. These are from a chamber below the Hall of Warriors. The Moon Pool must be drained to access it."

"What?" Tigress asked. "The Moon Pool is … just a pool. When they drain it for cleaning it's empty."

"The floor can be moved aside by a mechanism hidden behind a tile on the rim of the pool. Beneath it is a very steep staircase. And at the end of that staircase is darkness. Oogway's darkness, to be precise."

Tigress swallowed hard. "What do you mean?"

He raised his eyebrows "You don't know of Oogway's past?"

"I know some of it. I know he was a warlord. I know he did many terrible things before he discovered kung fu."

Tai Lung smirked. "Did you know he kept souvenirs?"

Tigress winced. "The black scrolls were his? What were they?"

"They were a series of meditations devised by a twisted monk who lived far before Oogway was hatched from his shell. They are a way to bend the mind to enable it do anything."

"Anything? Like what?"

"Anything required of it. To create a place in it, like a bubble of nothing where the screams of the innocent cannot be heard. With this a warrior might be able to do whatever he must without question and without feeling. For the good of China, Shifu told me. For the good of China. To be the Dragon Warrior and son I know you are destined to be, this is what you must do."

"No," Tigress whispered.

"It took years," Tai Lung continued. "Like any seed it it must grow. So Shifu nurtured it. Punished me when I deviated from it. I had twist my mind to put aside mercy, day in and day out. Do you think that comes without a price?" Tai Lung hissed. "I can tell you it does not. It can overwhelm you. It can overtake you. The magic in the black scrolls is strong. It becomes something that is wanting, waiting to be used. Coiled. Ready to strike and do so without sense or discernment or honor. It is the antithesis of kung fu. And Shifu - your beloved master - grew it in me like a vine."

Tigress shut her eyes tight and shook her head.

"No," she growled softly.

"Yes," Tai Lung said. "You wanted the truth, Tigress. It is unwise to ask for what you can't handle."

Her hands locked in fists. She wanted to scream at him. She wanted to punch the lies out of his mouth.

"Whenever you're ready," he said smoothly.

"Go on," she growled.

"So. The day everything fell apart, Shifu - in his presumption - invited the Emperor's men to witness my being named Dragon Warrior. He was glowing, he had so much pride in me. Can you imagine the humiliation when Oogway refused? His son was a failure. A .. a dud. And I tell you Tigress, when he looked at me - when he did not defend me to Oogway - I could tell I was no longer his son. I saw it in his eyes. I was twenty year's investment gone. I was his greatest defeat!" Tai Lung's hands clawed. His breath grew heavy. "I did not put aside my every desire - I did not put up with those awful men and their invasive questions - I did not study dark texts meant to warp me for nothing! All I ever did, I did to make him proud! But the very thing he put in me made that impossible!" He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "I asked Shifu to say something. I begged him to say something. For god's sake take the blame, tell me I did the best I could, tell me this is not my doing! But he did not. He only said that he had to retire to meditate on the day's events.

"So I stood there. Skinless. I had no idea what was to become of me. Everything was a lie. I had done everything asked of me but I was unworthy of my destiny? How? It made no sense! And Shifu left me in blackness, out in a howling wind. I had nothing. But no. I still had one thing. The only thing I had left. So Father, if you are leaving me to the abyss - if you have turned against me - then I may as well give these men what they paid you for."

Tigress's eyes filled with tears.

"It's a lie," she growled. "Tell me it's a lie!"

"It's the truth."

The look in his eyes was solid.

She shut hers.

He sighed. "I see he hid his darkness well, but this is your master, Tigress. I am sorry you have only now just met him."

"Shut up," Tigress seethed.

"You wanted the truth."

"Quiet!"

"Now you have it."

"BE QUIET!" she shouted.

The yurt went silent for a moment as people turned towards the source of the noise. She rose and stalked out of the the yurt, blind with tears, accidentally knocking over a stack of copper kettles. She threw aside the flap of the tent and stumbled out into the cold night air where she could breathe. Nothing Tai Lung said was true, nothing he said could possibly be true. Shifu would never do that, he was harsh but he was kind, he would never - he couldn't possibly be capable of mutilating his own son in such a way. His heart was not so selfish and dark. Not her Shifu. Nor her tired, beloved master, with so much regret in his eyes. So much regret, always there, so constant, the years of misery, the limp he could not correct - that sorrow she wanted so badly to heal him of, that deep well of guilt for what he had done -

for what he had created.

Not simply a spoiled and prideful child, she now understood. Too much regret even for that. Years of her life spent watching Shifu suddenly solidified into a horrifying truth. She took a series of deep breaths, fighting down nausea, helpless as her new reality lurched into place.

There were steps behind her. She turned to glance at him. He wore the pack. No mask, but he'd kept the cloak. In his left hand he held the peach.

"I'm sorry," he said.

She wiped her eyes and turned. He looked, to her surprise, genuinely sorry.

But not yielding.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," she spat. "You're a live grenade."

"Yes, and who made me that way?"

"I don't care who made you that way," she said, doing everything she could not to weep. "You understand? I don't care."

A look of hurt crossed his face.

"Fine," he said.

He opened his hand and let the peach drop into the snow.

"You don't care, fine. If you don't care, this live grenade is going back to the Valley of Peace to get what is rightfully HIS!"

And with that, he turned and walked away. Not along the road. He headed directly south, out into the wastes.

Out into nothing.

"Where are you going?" Tigress shouted after him.

He did not answer. Kept walking.

But suddenly she realized the road - well worn with traders and sporadic civilization, a thin ribbon of survival in a barren wasteland - went east to west.

China lay south.


	7. Chapter 7

Tigress was exhausted.

She knew it would probably be best to follow Tai Lung but she was spent. When she caught up with him all she would be able to do was burst into tears. She'd decide what to do when he reached the end of his two and a half mile tether.

She turned to see the goat next to the determined fire, looking at her with raised eyebrows and big gold eyes. He'd surely seen and heard the whole fight. She didn't care. She approached the fire to get warm.

"Sorry for the scene," she said, rubbing her arms.

He smiled. Shook his head. Chuckled.

"Love," he replied in heavily accented Mandarin. "Love."

She laughed grimly and shook her head.

He reached in his coat and offered her a flask.

She stared at it. She'd never had anything stronger than half a cup of wine at the yearly Winter Feast. But she was so raw with sorrow and anger that she took it from him, unscrewed the cap, and threw whatever was in it back. She very quickly choked and started to hack - it tasted awful, like something you'd use to polish metal. She handed the flask back to the laughing goat and swallowed as hard as she could.

"Thank you," she choked. Her eyes watered but she grew warm on the inside.

All she could do now was wait.

She couldn't recall being this exhausted in ages. She missed her home, she missed her bed. It was a flat hard cot but it was her flat hard cot. She was hungry too. What she wouldn't give for some broth and tofu from the bunkhouse kitchen, surrounded by her friends and master on a night like this. But all she had was harsh liquor from a stranger's flask and her heart flopping around outside her body like a dying fish.

She shut her eyes.

"Shifu," she whispered. "How could you do it?"

She knew Shifu was ambitious. No amount of past hurt or present grumpiness could begin to touch that. It simmered away in him, in everything he did, in how hard he pushed her, in how readily he took to the challenge of designing five new fighting styles. Perhaps when it was spread evenly between the five of them that was enough to keep his ambition sated. But all that desire focused solely on young, powerful, prodigious Tai Lung, into whom Shifu pushed his hopes and dreams … she could almost see how a younger Shifu's aspirations might turn greedy and begin to twist him from the inside out - and twist his son in turn.

His son.

It was uncomfortable to think of that huge man as anyone's son, as anyone who was once young and innocent and suffering. As someone who still suffered. The victim of a bad fate. She didn't want to feel pity for him but there it lay.

No. Tai Lung still chose to destroy the Valley of Peace.

That was that. There was no remedy for it, and there was certainly no excusing it, but …

Could she really deny that it was within Shifu's power to drive someone insane?

She took a deep breath and exhaled quickly, as though to banish the notion from her mind. There was betrayal inherent in this line of thinking. To pity Tai Lung was to forsake her Master. And how did she know he was not lying? Shifu had never mentioned Tai Lung being manipulative or false, but why would he? He never spoke about his son and all but forbade her to. She knew nothing about him at all.

Suddenly she felt Tai Lung. He'd charged on all fours two and a half miles directly south, stopping dead at the boundary. In an instant her heart filled with feelings that weren't hers - simmering anger floating on confusion and sorrow. There was a sharp sense of having been sliced. He moved out of range and just as quickly as the feelings faded. All except the sharp feeling. It remained with her a moment longer than the rest, gnawing at her. She'd caused that, she understood. He'd been cut raw and she'd done it to him and he was angry that she'd done it to him and confused about how she even could.

Tigress winced and put her head in her hands. She growled. She looked up and made eye contact with the goat. He'd been watching her. His eyes widened.

"Go!" he urged, gesturing south.

Tigress made a sound of pure aggravation, put her hands in fists, and marched out into the snow.

"Come back!" the goat shouted after her.

She turned. "What?"

"You get him, you come back! Out there you die!" he said. He pointed east. "You stay on road."

She took this in for a moment then nodded, and the goat seemed satisfied with that. She turned to continue on her way and hit something small and dense with her foot. She looked down.

The peach.

She growled, bent to pick it up, and went after Tai Lung.

o

It was so inky dark she could barely see his trail two feet ahead of her, but at this point she could have picked his scent up over a banquet table heavy with freshly cooked food. It was impossible to forget. But she knew she was getting close when she heard him singing. It was not a pretty song, just a tired and distracted rendition of a pub shanty used for the receptive task of slogging through rapidly deepening snow. But it surprised her all the same.

"Tai Lung!" she called.

The singing stopped for a moment. Started again.

He was ignoring her.

"Tai Lung!" she shouted again.

He kept moving.

"Stop! Would you please just stop for a second?"

The singing got louder.

Tigress growled and pressed on. She was finally close enough to see him galumphing through the snow. She wound up. She pitched. The peach hit him in the shoulder hard enough to make him stumble forward. She felt it smash against him.

"HEY!" he shouted

"STOP! Please - just - " she stopped to rest her hands on her knees and breathe deeply. The last mile of deep snow had taken it out of her. "Just - just stop and - listen."

He bent down to pick up the peach and stalked towards her.

"Why did you throw this? It's ruined now!" he snarled.

He held the peach out to her. It was smashed and full of fur, leaking juice onto his palm.

"This was for you," he said "Eat it."

She looked at the crushed peach and wrinkled her nose.

"No."

He snarled at her. "I want to watch you eat this peach."

"This isn't a hostage situation!" she snapped.

"Isn't it?" he exclaimed. "Isn't it!?"

"Well in a hostage situation if someone tells you they want to watch you eat a peach things are about to get really bad."

The corner of Tai Lung's mouth ticked upwards. He chuckled, sounding almost impressed. "Dark, Tigress."

"...thanks?" She replied, unsure if he was mocking her. "Thanks for stopping, anyway."

"What choice do I have? Tell me this isn't a hostage situation with that whatever-it-is barrier in place. I'd completely forgotten. Ran headlong into it," he said, glancing at her. "There's something you want to say?"

Her blood ran cold. She'd forgotten that when she could see into him, he could also see into her. She had no idea what he'd gathered.

"I - " Tigress began, trying to hold down the feeling of violation. "You have to understand, the master you grew up with is not the master I know. The master I know could never be so cruel. But … but I know you are not lying." She took a deep breath. Closed her eyes. "And if it's worth anything to you, it's tearing me apart."

Tai Lung quickly looked away.

"I know," he replied. "I … when I hit the barrier, I …." he made a gesture with his hand. Tapped his chest twice. "I saw. You … you're very loyal to Shifu."

"He's everything to me."

"Don't!" Tai Lung barked. "Don't do that, Tigress. Don't ever do that."

"Don't do what?"

"Don't make Shifu everything to you. That's how you end up in Chorch-Gom. Thats how you end up in Mongolia."

"I don't think I - "

"Why? Why should Shifu be everything to you, when he did whatever it is he did to you?"

"What? What exactly are you implying?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

She balked. "What he did to me was take me in, give me a home and a purpose and a life"

"Then why are you miserable?"

"I'm - " she stammered. "I'm miserable because we're stuck out here."

"Bullshit! You were miserable the second I set eyes on you! A warrior doesn't get a chip on her shoulder that big without some sort of brainwashing. That's what Shifu does you know, brainwashing. You wanted to tear my throat out coming across that bridge."

"Because you leapt at me claws first!"

"After you cut the bridge! What was I supposed to do, placidly fall to my death? Then you tried for a sucker punch when I was just talking."

"Don't you mean gloating?" she huffed.

"Peacefully! Why would you attack a man peacefully gloating on a bridge? Is it illegal to peacefully gloat on a bridge?"

"It's illegal to destroy the Valley of Peace!"

"And who says I'm going to destroy the Valley of Peace?"

"Shifu!"

"EXACTLY!" He pointed at the black oval in the center of Tigress's forehead. "Brainwashing!"

She knocked his hand away. "That's not a very convincing argument considering you actually did destroy the Valley of Peace! How was I supposed to know you wouldn't do it again?"

"I don't know!" he said. "But - just - give a guy a chance!"

"A chance to what? Not destroy the Valley of Peace?"

He made an exasperated sound. "I don't have evil designs on the Valley of Peace! All I want is to go home. All I wanted for twenty years was to go home."

"You want the scroll."

"It's my scroll!" he snarled.

"It's not your scroll and it never will be."

"Let's not do this again!" he barked. "You still deny it's owed me even after I shared everything with you? All that? My entire life?"

"I -"

"You know I've never told anyone that story before? No one. Just you. No one knows my story but you. The least you could have done is - " he stopped short suddenly. Made a dismissive gesture with his hand and looked away from her.

She stepped towards him. "The least I could have done is what?"

"…listen," he muttered after a moment.

"I listened."

"Care," he said to the ground.

"I ... I care."

"Do you?"

Tigress made fists with her hands. Opened and closed them the way she did when she was frustrated. "I … do. But this is a lot. It's all…it's all a lot, Tai Lung. Everything I thought I knew about my Master just changed. Just now. Forever. You've had twenty years with your story. Give me time to … to catch up. You have to give me a chance too. Give me a chance and I'll give you one. All right?"

After a long moment he met her eyes. Glanced away.

"All right," he said.

"All - all right?"

"I said all right!" he almost snapped.

"Okay!" She glanced at the mashed peach in his hand. "Do I still have to eat that?"

"For how much I paid for it you should. But no. It's … all gross, now." He dropped in in the snow, where it landed with a wet splat. "Fresh fruit does not come cheap here."

She watched as he smoothed a layer of snow over the peach with his tail.

"Why did you buy it for me?" she asked. "You're the one who hasn't had one in twenty years."

"When I was in prison I dreamt of peaches from the Tree of Heavenly Wisdom. I know it's not from home, but I thought it might make you less homesick."

Tigress was taken aback. "You were trying to cheer me up?"

"Trying, yes. I'd had enough of watching you glum up the steppes. So, have a peach. Always cheered me up, anyway." He cleared his throat as though uncomfortable with the topic. "Obviously didn't work."

"Oh." Tigress felt her heart spin in place. "It - I mean it - if I had known- "

He looked at her as though she were the queerest thing he'd ever seen. "If you had known? What did you think I was doing?"

"Bribing … me?"

His eyes windened. "Do you assume everyone has horrible intentions or is that just me?"

"I .. I don't know."

"Well, think about it. Come on," he said.

He began to lead her further south.

"Wait," she said. "I'm not comfortable with this plan of going directly south. There is a road for a reason. We should stay on it."

He shook his head. "The road goes that way - " he pointed east - " and China is that way." He pointed south. "If we stay on the road we'll waste time."

"How much time do you think we could possibly save by heading out into nothing? It's a trade road, it will turn south eventually."

"Yes, but at the pace of commerce, not at the pace of warriors. That's why we're going to cut across on a diagonal and meet it going south. It'll save us months."

Tigress looked skeptical. "We'll need a lot of supplies. There won't be any traders out there."

He reached behind him and gave the pack a pat. "What do you think I was doing while you were having a little nap by the fire? Why wake you? We're all set." He grinned. "You didn't even have to worry about it."

"Tai Lung, you can't - " she started, but suddenly realized that in doing this he genuinely thought he'd been doing her a favor. "Thank you - " she said, the words feeling strange in her mouth. "Thank you for doing that. But I wish you'd asked me first."

He looked surprised. "I figured you'd be up for it. Shifu doesn't raise wimps."

"It's not being a wimp to to think things through. I spoke with someone back at the trading post. He warned me that the both of us should stay on the road. He said we'd die out here."

He rolled his eyes. "Tigress, please. We're two warriors trained in survival. He's talking about some other pair of dopes, not us. We'll be fine. It's a couple weeks travel that will save us months."

She considered this. "We shouldn't be out in the tundra when hard winter hits."

"We won't be! Two weeks! Tigress. Come on," he teased. "Don't let some goat scare you."

She took a deep, pensive breath.

"We'll be fine," he said, with an edge of impatience. "What did we say about giving chances?"

She shook her head. "Fine. But if we die I'll kill you."

"Yes yes, we'll have it out in the Spirit Realm. Our battle will be legendary. Come on along."

They walked in silence for a while. The moon came out from behind the clouds just as they reached the peak of the ridge, where the snow did indeed thin out as Tai Lung claimed. This reassured her.

"Tai Lung," she said.

He turned to her with lifted eyebrows. "Hm?"

"That was sweet of you," she said. "With the peach."

"Well I certainly thought so," he replied.


	8. Chapter 8

Tigress awoke with a start, claws out. Someone growled at her, across the fire, there, the intruder, it was -

-Tai Lung, growling in his sleep again.

She caught her breath, pressing her hand to her chest. There had been some variation of this every night of their journey. Some nights he slept straight through with only little hints of snarls, and some nights he awoke with a roar, gasping for air from a full on nightmare.

"You all right?" she would ask.

"I thought I was back there," he would say, panting, his eyes wide with terror. "I was back in Chorch-Gom."

"You're not back there. You're in Mongolia," Tigress would reply. And she'd roll over and go back to sleep. But now Tai Lung growled and grunted and twitched, lips curling into a snarl. It would surely be twenty minutes more of this before he woke clawing at his chest, and she wanted to get back to sleep.

But perhaps she could head it off at the pass.

She crawled out of her sleeping roll and leaned close to him.

"Tai Lung," she whispered.

He kept growling but his ear twitched up towards her.

"You're free," she said. "You're not in Chorch-Gom. You're in Mongolia with me."

He calmed for a second, then growled and writhed, baring his teeth. Hesitantly, she placed her hand on his forehead and scratched. He stopped suddenly. Sniffed the air. Pressed up into her hand and purred.

"There," she said, the corner of her mouth twitching into a reluctant smile. "Everything's fine. Have good dreams now."

To her surprise he nodded, then rolled over with a sigh and slept soundly.

Tigress smiled. He looked like a big cub, sleeping sweetly like this. He was … cute. And it was so dark out here and she was so alone that she didn't even feel the need to chastise herself for thinking so. She crawled back into her bedroll and fell asleep listening to his long slow breaths. When she woke in the morning he stayed asleep, and then continued to sleep util the early afternoon.

"You're finally up," Tigress said when he finally sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"It's noon," he said, looking up at the sky, aghast. "Was I in a coma?"

"Looked that way."

"Felt that way."

"You must have needed it. Get up. I'll make tea."

"Thank you," he said, stretching. "Wow. I really slept."

o

"Tell me about your team," Tai Lung commanded later that day.

They trudged through the snow. The sun was relentless, with only the occasional breeze, so she was an uncomfortable mix of hot and freezing. She shifted between wearing her coat and taking it off in turn. Tai Lung wore a thick brown shirt he'd purchased when prepping for their journey, part of an indiscriminate pile of clothing he'd obtained for the both of them. Tigress puzzled over it the night before.

"Did you actually look at any of this before you bought it?" Tigress asked, holding up a rough green woven sweater four times her size. She tossed it to Tai Lung, who lounged across the fire from her. "That's for you." She held up a tiny coat. "And this is for a baby."

He tilted his head. "It could be a glove. In a pinch."

Tigress looked skeptical. She continued to dig through the pile. "Wait - what the hell is this?"

She held up a short, sheer, silken red nightdress.

Tai Lung looked at it and smiled slowly. "No idea. You'd better try it on."

She crumpled it in a ball and threw it in his face, then grabbed another garment. "Don't be disgusting."

He laughed. "I'm kidding! I didn't know it was in there!"

"Right."

"I swear I didn't!" He insisted, holding up his paws, the nightgown draped over his head. "I didn't!"

"You seriously just bought a pile of clothes without looking through them?"

"I wanted to get going! I'm not going to sit there and ponder over every little thing like Shifu at the fruit market!"

"Oh my god. He's terrible about fruit."

"I once stood by while he chose a whole bag of yellow plums. Yellow plums, Tigress. A blind man can find a bruise on a yellow plum."

She picked up a vest and held it to her chest. "I stopped going. I'd find any reason. I once spilled oil and rice all over the kitchen floor just so I could clean it up."

He nodded. "I suddenly became 'sick' once, but he didn't buy it, so I stood there aging while he meticulously catalogued mandarins."

"He lets the geese do it now."

"Shifu letting a goose pick his produce? Never thought I'd see the day."

"People age," Tigress said. "People change."

"Hmph." He shook his head, the red fringe of the nightgown hitting his chin.

She smirked.

"What are you laughing at, this?" he said. He pointed to the silken nightgown. "This? Well if you don't want to try it on perhaps I will. Here, I'll give it a try." He lifted it over his head.

She straightened, startled. "What - what are you -?"

"Indeed, what am I? Big grey spotted guy, what is that?" He managed to get his head and one arm though the neck of the nightgown. This resulted in a frilly red stripe from his left shoulder to his right armpit. "There. Best I can do."

Tigress looked incredulously at him.

He cocked his head at her. "What, you don't like it? I think it looks pretty."

Tigress broke. She laughed.

Tai Lung grinned. He looked so pleased with himself for making her laugh that she kept laughing.

"I think I'll start a trend," he said thoughtfully, lifting his chin. "New thing for the guys."

"I think it might fail to catch on," Tigress said through laughter.

He tutted her. "You just don't want to admit you were wrong."

"Oh I was wrong. Never been more wrong. Looks great," she said, chuckling. "Cutting edge. Wear it forever."

"All right," he said, laying back and folding his hands over his chest contentedly. "What's for dinner?"

"I don't know, make yourself useful and cook something," Tigress said, but she smiled as she folded a shirt.

Tai Lung didn't move. He smiled and lay there, blatantly admiring her in a way that made her toes tingle.

"What?" she asked cautiously.

"You're smiling."

"So?"

"So? It's nice that you're smiling. Tigress is usually all dour-faced. I like it when she smiles. That all right with you?" He sat up and dug through the pack for food. "Mushrooms, rice, dry tofu. Good?"

"That'll do," she said, trying not to smile.

She did anyway.

She'd been smiling a lot. She even smiled now as she trudged through the snow.

"Tell me about your team!" she barked, imitating him. "Why is everything an order with you?"

"Because do as I say, woman!" he said, smirking at her.

"Or what?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Hmmm. I'm a kind master, I'll think I'll let you choose your punishment."

She shut her eyes and shook her head, forcing it clear. "So my team," she said pointedly. "Let's see. If Monkey were here instead of me he'd be your best friend by now. Crane would be flying and trying to avoid you, I doubt you'd see much of him at all. Mantis would be sitting on your shoulder telling you dirty jokes - "

"I like Mantis."

" -and Viper …." Her face fell. "Viper would not be doing well at all in this cold. She'd probably be best off …." she let her voice trail, because what she was about to say was curled around your chest to keep warm but could not bring herself to say it.

"She'd probably be best off what?"

"In the pack," Tigress lied.

"Hm," he said, and they trudged through the snow in companionable silence for a while.

"You never did answer my question," Tai Lung said after a bit.

"Which?"

"The goose. What did she do to anger you?"

"Oh," Tigress said, flustered. "I'm not … I'm not proud of that."

"I didn't ask if you were proud of it, I asked why you did it." He smiled. "What so incurred young Tigress's wrath?"

She sighed. "At that age I was still going to the school in the village. There was a little jerboa boy named Li in my class. He was tiny - he sat in my hand sometimes and he was barely bigger than than two of my fingers - and he wore huge thick glasses that barely stayed on his head. He was my friend." She smiled. "One day I turned the corner to go back inside after recess and this goose," she said, old anger flickering to life at the recollection,"was holding his face down to the ground with her foot. I thought she was suffocating him. So I punched her in the neck."

Tai Lung looked incredulous. "She did have it coming!"

Tigress shook her head. "No. I should have handled it without violence. I could have just pushed her off him, but I chose to hurt her. She was in the hospital for a month and a half. She had to wear a neck brace for a year. It never healed right, her neck is still a little bit crooked."

"Good. Now it matches her soul."

You're one to talk, Tigress thought sourly.

"She was just playing," she said. "She didn't know what she was doing."

"How old was she? Ten? Just playing, my foot. Sounds like you had a little sadist on your hands."

"I'd never seen her do anything like that before."

"I bet she never did again! You were absolutely justified. You may have saved that little boy's life! And Shifu's reaction to this was to haul out the shell schematics and terrify you into submission? Did he even acknowledge the good you were trying to do?"

"He said I should have told a teacher."

Tai Lung shook his head. "While the jerboa smothered to death? Bad call, Shifu."

She chuckled. "I wish you'd been there to argue my case."

"I would have! I'd have told you to punch her twice!'" he said. "You know, I probably would have been raising you alongside Shifu, had I remained at the palace." He looked at her face smiled. "I bet you were cute little cub."

Tigress wanted to smile, so she scoffed. "I was a mean little cub. Bite your finger off."

"Like I said, cute. You'd have made a total sucker out of me in no time. You'd have me taking you down to the village every day to the sweet shop to buy you a treat."

"I don't think Shifu would approve of you spoiling me."

"Well someone should have been spoiling you."

Something warm began to happen in Tigress's chest. That might be the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me, she thought. Why did it have to be him?

"Tell me more about your team!" he said. "You like them quite a lot. You smile when you talk about them."

"I do. We're a family."

"You grew up training with them?"

"No. I Was Shifu's sole student until I was fourteen."

He nodded. "Must have been nice when the others arrived. Got Shifu off your back for a minute."

"Off my back?" she said. 'He was never on my back."

Tai Lung raised an eyebrow. "Shifu didn't hover around you constantly?"

"Hover around me?"

"With me Shifu had something planned morning till night. Every moment of the day we were working together towards my becoming the Dragon Warrior. It was exhausting." He gave a rueful laugh. "Prison was a relief from being constantly looked at."

"Oh," she said, surprised. She'd have imagined having so much of Shifu's attention would be wonderful, but what Tai Lung described didn't sound pleasant at all. "You were his son. You were everything to him. I am … just a student."

"Um," Tai Lung said. "No."

"No?"

"No! He adopted you. He can't adopt you into his care yet claim not to be your father. That's cruel."

"It's - it's not cruel," Tigress said immediately, but her stomach began to churn.

"It isn't? Seems cruel to me, to take you in as family but disown you. Despicable thing to do to a child. And yet here you are, chasing down his problems for him. For someone who claims not to be Shifu's daughter, you certainly act the part."

"Thank you," she said.

He raised an eyebrow. "Your loyalty to him is terribly misplaced."

Tigress bristled. "Don't you -"

"Misplaced," he continued, "but honorable. I hope Shifu is as honored by your loyalty as he should be. I hope he tells you every day how honored he is," Tai lung said. "I would, were you that loyal to me."

"I - " Tigress began. Her heart was spinning in her chest. "I imagine he's quite angry with me right now."

He laughed. "Oh, I bet. He probably thinks you ran off and got yourself killed."

Tigress winced and looked at the ground.

"Where did he find you again? Where did you say you were, Bao-Gu?"

"The orphanage. Yes."

"Hmmph. Apparently the Valley of Peace is an unwanted cub drop-off point," he muttered. "That couldn't have been very long after I went to prison, that he obtained you. Doesn't waste any time, does he?"

"It was a few years."

"A few years with no students? I wonder what he did with himself."

Tigress shook her head. "It was a dark time for him."

"Oh?" Tai Lung said. There was a hush in his voice she'd never heard before. "Do tell."

She shrugged. "I have nothing to tell. That's all Oogway ever said about it. It was a dark time. Shifu never spoke of what happened after you. He never talked about you at all."

Tai Lung stopped walking. "He never talked about me at all?"

"He preferred to treat it as though you never existed."

Tai Lung's face fell. "As though I never existed?"

Tigress fumbled for words, startled by the how hurt he was. "I didn't - "

"So I was dredged up to frighten you as a cub and then discarded. That's all I got?"

"You … you were not to be spoken of. The Five only learned about you when I told them. Even then, I knew I wasn't supposed to. You were … off limits."

"Off limits." Tai Lung said. His hands balled in fists. Jaw twitched. "i see. Good luck forgetting me, father. Living in the house I built."

"What do you mean?"

"That training hall you practice in every day? Shifu and I used the Emperor's money to design it from the ground up. We perfected it for years. I am in every grain of wood and clanking chain. He teaches his students in the house we built together yet he cannot bring himself to even speak of me? I'm stowed away in darkness, relegated to child-frightener?" he snarled. "That miserly bastard prick!"

Tigress had a half a mind to snap at him, order him to stop speaking of their Master in such a way, but a queer feeling came over her. What right do I have to tell him he shouldn't be angry? she found herself thinking. I'd be angry too.

Tai Lung glanced questioningly at her.

"I'm .. I'm sorry," she said.

"Why? You didn't do anything." He took a deep breath and shook his head. "Come on," he grumbled. "Lets keep moving."

"Tai Lung, listen - " she began, grabbing his arm. "It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair, what Shifu did to you. It wasn't fair then and it's not fair now. But he - "

Tai Lung pulled her into a sudden and urgent hug. He took a deep breath and pressed his chin to the top of her head.

Tigress froze, eyes wide.

"Thank you," he whispered fiercely. "Thank you."

He gave her a last squeeze and released her.

"You're -you're welcome," Tigress said stiffly. "Let's, uh - " she cleared his throat. "Let's keep moving. Okay?"

"Right," Tai Lung said. "Let's move out."

o

They trudged through the snow. The sun beat down relentlessly but the wind was frigid and biting. Suddenly Tai Lung stopped, groaned, and let the pack slide from his shoulders to the ground.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine, I'm just done with this," he said.

"Done with what?"

He began unfastening the button knots of his shirt. "This," he said. "The hottest shirt in all of Mongolia."

"You'll, um …" Tigress said, distracted as she watched him undo it. "You'll just get cold again."

"And if I leave it on I'll melt into a puddle. Enough."

He slid the shirt off to reveal a muscular torso she'd seen a thousand times, yet became doubly more captivating when presented this way. He lifted his chin and sighed in relief as a breeze gently ruffled his fur. Without knowing it Tigress bit her bottom lip. Tai Lung glanced at her and smirked. She quickly looked askance, burning from head to toe.

He chuckled softly. "Let's stop for a bit," he said, opening the pack. "Have a bite to eat."

"All right," Tigress replied, grateful he'd chosen not to say anything. His smirk, she supposed, said enough. She winced.

"What's wrong? Headache?" he asked.

"Yes," she lied.

He tossed her the canteen. "Drink some water."

She caught it. "Thank you," she said, unscrewing the cap. She took a long drink. As she did this he tossed her a pack of hard tack wrapped in a huge leaf, which she gave a little kick then turned and snatched with her tail, all without pausing in her drink.

"Good catch," he said.

She smiled and screwed the cap back on the canteen. "I do kung-fu," she said, smirking.

He looked her up and down, mischief in his eyes.

"Do you?" he asked.

And suddenly he flew at her, his fist aimed directly at her face. She leapt into action, blocked his strike and took three leaps backwards out of range, landing in a fighting stance. Her heart pounded but he smiled.

"What are you doing?' she demanded.

"Spar with me!" he said.

"It's good form to ask first!" she said.

"Where the fun in that?"

"And how are we going to spar, exactly?"

"What do you mean how? How do you usually spar?"

"No, I mean how if we can feel one another's pain?"

His face fell. He'd forgotten. He shrugged. "We're both conditioned. Just don't pull any finishers or anything. Go easy."

"If you think it'll work."

He rolled his eyes. "It's be fine. Come on, Tigress. Let's roll. I haven't had a good spar in -"

"Twenty years?" Tigress said, raising an eyebrow.

"How did you know?" he asked with faux astonishment.

She smirked. "Some big annoying leopard told me. In fact he never shuts up about it."

He narrowed his eyes and shook his head, chuckling. "Maybe I won't go easy on you after all."

"It's not a good spar if you go easy on -"

But she was interrupted by his attack, a flying kick aimed just past her head. She dodged and tried to mount her own offensive but it was no use. He checked her every move and replied with low-powered strikes she was easily able to block.

"Please," she said. "I'm not a child."

He considered this a moment, then shrugged. He came at her faster. Within seconds she was reduced to merely guarding her face with her forearms. She had to move out of his range to catch her breath. He checked her so easily, as though it was barely anything to him. Even when he could feel his own strikes it was hardly worthy of effort.

She growled. She tried another attack, then blocked his offensive and struck. As her punch missed he grabbed her by the forearm, spun her around so her back was to him, and wrapped his arms around her in a bear hold. She made of noise of frustration and struggled against him.

"What are you going do now, little kitten?" he asked, laughing. "You're done!"

She hooked her foot around the back of his knee and pulled fell to the ground, landing hard. They both cried out on impact but his arms were still around her. She continued to struggle from a seated position, trying to find a way out of his grasp as he snickered at her.

"Sorry my dear," he said, pressing his hand to her throat. "Nice tackle, but you're dead."

"I'm only dead because I can't actually hurt you," she growled through grit teeth.

"That's why it's sparring, you little savage," he said. "Why, what would you do?"

"Right now my claws are on your thighs. I'd start digging."

"And I'd break your wrists," he said. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Snap them like twigs."

She struggled against him. "When you grabbed me you were wide open. I had a clear groin shot with my tail," she snarled.

"Oh-hoho!" Tai Lung said, exactly the way Shifu did when he found himself unexpectedly impressed. For a split second Tigress turned into a little girl, glowing with her Master's approval - that oh-hoho was one of the best sounds you could get from Shifu.

But this wasn't Shifu. This was Tai Lung.

And his arms were around her.

And his breath was in her ear.

"That's … true, actually," he said. "You did, didn't you?"

"I … I did," she replied, her heart pounding.

"Thank you for sparing me," he said. "And yourself. Trust me. It is agony. There's nothing worse. It feels like puking out both ends while your soul tries to leave your body."

"Oh," Tigress said, blinking. "Wow."

"Indeed. Wow." Tai Lung gave a great sigh and let his chin rest warmly on her head. "Your mercy is the envy of Guanyin, my dear."

"You're - you're welcome," she said.

A moment passed. She felt him relax. He nudged her gently with his nose, then slowly rubbed his chin and the side of his face against her, purring softly. She froze, meaning to object but struck mute by this new feeling, this rumbling reverberating throughout her entire body. Her eyes fluttered closed. For a wild instant she titled her head up and pressed back against him.

He purring grew louder. Took on a curl.

Tigress froze, coming to her senses. She went stiff. She moved away but he followed her, nuzzling the nape of her neck. She stifled a gasp as a heat twisted up through her.

"Let me go," she said quickly.

"Let you go?" he murmured against her fur. "Why?"

"Because I asked you to."

"But why?" he asked teasingly. "I like you."

Her heart pounded. "If you like me, respect my wishes and let me go," she said.

He paused a moment. Sighed heavily, as though terribly put out, and released her. She leapt to her feet and took a few steps away towards the pack, unable to look at him. She hurriedly smoothed the fur on the top of her head and went about tying the pack shut.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"We should go. Get going. While there's still … still sun. While it's daylight," she said before she was finally able to will her stupid mouth shut.

"All right," he said, his voice lilting as though terribly intrigued. He crept closer to her. "But aren't you hungry?" he asked, and she knew he was not talking about food.

She swallowed hard, then dug into the pack to grab another package of hard tack. She tossed it to him over her shoulder. "You were the one who who was hungry, not me."

He snickered. "Oh is that what you think?"

"That's what I think," she said firmly.

"Hm," he said. "Wise words from someone who's clearly never eaten a thing."

Tigress inhaled sharply. She aggressively tied the pack shut.

"Let's - let's move out," she said. "Mind tactical."

He chuckled. "Mind tactical, eh? Are we going to battle the snow?" He took a big bite of hard tack. "You're silly," he said around it.

"Didn't your mother teach you not to talk with your mouth full?" Tigress snapped.

"My mother?" Tai Lung snapped back at her. "You mean the one that abandoned me before the Jade Palace gates? No, Tigress, as a matter of fact she didn't teach me a thing."

Tigress shut her eyes.

"I meant - I didn't mean -" she began, but sighed. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for."

He thrust a piece of hard tack at her. "Eat something," he commanded, this time actually talking about food. "Hunger is making you unreasonable."

"I said I'm not hungry."

He grabbed her hand, shoved the hard tack into it, and gently pushed her away from the pack. He tied it shut and slung it over his shoulder. After a moment he grimaced and put it down again.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting my shirt," he said.

"I told you you'd get cold."

"Well I can't just take it on and off with the pack on my shoulders."

"Unbutton it."

He scoffed. "How slovenly."

"The snow doesn't care if you look slovenly."

"I care if I look slovenly!"

Tigress rolled her eyes. "Fine. Do what you want with your shirt."

"I'll do what I want with your shirt," he muttered, buttoning his.

"Yeah?" Tigress said, crossing her arms. "Well it won't fit you."

Tai Lung gave her an incredulous look. "You think I want to wear it?"

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't," she said primly. "You'll stretch it terribly."

He slung the pack over his shoulder and shrugged. "At least I'd have you out of it," he said smoothly. "All right soldier, let's move out. Since that's what we're doing, apparently."

"I - " Tigress began, stumbling on her retort. But he'd already walked on ahead of her, chomping happily on his hard tack, and Tigress had no more fight left in her. His touch still echoed in her skin. She trailed behind him, stunned by what she'd almost given in to, growing gradually more furious.

Shifu, why did you not warn me about your son being charming? You gave him a terrible ability to charm. Why did you do that?

Because Shifu would raise his son to be charming. He'd raised him to expect love. Shifu's heart wasn't broken in those days. Shifu had not raised her to be charming and gregarious like he himself once was, he'd raised her to be impenetrable like he'd become.

They way he became after his son murdered innocent people.

She tore her eyes from Tai Lung's broad, handsome shoulders and rose into herself. Squashed down her fluttering heart. Do NOT forget who this is for a second, she scolded herself. You can't for a MOMENT let him trick you into -

She ran into the pack face first. Tai Lung had stopped dead on the ridge of a hill.

"Hey!" Tigress cried. "What are you - "

But she stopped short when she, too, saw streaks of red staining the snow.


	9. Chapter 9

The caravan, or what was left of it, lay flattened against the snow like a god reached down and smote it off the earth with his thumb. Overturned yurts slumped over ransacked sleds, kicked aside fires slowly choked to death, and everywhere was littered with headless bodies. All different species lay mutilated, melting little crimson lakes into the snow.

Tai Lung took a big bite of hard tack and nodded approvingly. "Looks like we missed the party," he said.

Tigress wrinkled her nose at his callousness. "We didn't miss it by much. This is fresh. Whoever did this is nearby."

"Are you scared?" he snickered. "Don't worry, little kitten. I'll protect you." He reached out to pat her head but Tigress ducked away before he could touch her.

"Spare me," she said and started down the hill towards the wreckage. Tai Lung chuckled and followed. She meant only to skirt the outer edges, none too eager to get blood on her feet, but Tai Lung strode right in like a cheerful festival goer after a hard rain.

"Tigress look at this!" he said, pointing to a pile of rubble. "The sled must have flipped end over end and landed square on top of this yurt. Wew-wew-wew BLAM!" he said, drawing a curlicue in the air with his index finger. "Wish I'd seen that!"

She crossed her arms. "Do you also wish you'd seen all the beheadings?"

He glanced around. Shrugged. "Seen one seen 'em all." He turned to the wreckage and lifted a panel of yurt canvas to look beneath it. "One time, I - " he stopped short. Bent to look closer at whatever he found there. "Dear god."

'What is it?' Tigress asked. He looked up at her, eyes wide and bewildered, and drew the canvas aside. Laying beneath it was grizzled old wolf – mangled, but still very much alive. The wolf coughed, expelling more blood into the puddle at his mouth. One arm lay outstretched, as though reaching for something.

The wolf opened his eyes. His gaze fell on Tigress. He smiled, his teeth stained red.

"Well I'll be damned," he croaked. "An angel."

o

"Hand me the canteen," Tigress whispered to Tai Lung.

"Why?" Tai Lung whispered back. "We can't do anything for him except put him out of his misery."

"Might we offer a dying man a drink of water before leaping right to the mercy kill?"

"Certainly, but I'm just saying …. you know, don't get too attached."

To Tigress's surprise the wolf gave a grim gallows laugh. Coughed. When he spoke his words were labored, with long pauses for breath. "He …. ain't wrong, sweetheart. I'm well on my way. But I'll …. take that water."

Tai Lung handed Tigress the canteen and grinned at the wolf. "Not your day, is it, sir?"

"Heh. Ain't …. never been …. my day, soldier," he said.

Tigress knelt beside the wolf and gently lifted his head, holding the canteen to his lips. "Tell me if I'm hurting you," she said.

"Can't feel a thing … beautiful. Back broke in the crash. Long past hurtin'," the wolf replied. He drank heartily, gasping with relief. "Thank you," he said, coughing. He glanced up at Tai Lung. "Can you … hand me my pipe … son?"

"Oh. Um-" Tai Lung replied, startled. "Where is it?"

The wolf wiggled the fingers of his outstretched arm. Next to them lay a little worn sack. "Just here. Just outta...outta my reach. Arm's broken. Been a … been a real pisser, let me tell you."

Tai Lung laughed. He knelt down and pushed the sack into the wolf's hand. The wolf closed his fingers around it but that was all he could do. Tai Lung shook his head.

"Let me guess, you want me to load it up and light it for you too, lazy ass?" Tai Lung barked. Tigress was aghast, but the wolf laughed. Tai Lung slid the pipe and tobacco out of the sack, smiling wryly. "Look lively man, look lively! Eyes front, march!"

"Eyes left," the wolf said, glancing at Tigress.

"You're telling me," Tai Lung replied.

They chuckled. Tigress furrowed her brow. They'd just made some sort of reference to her. She wasn't certain the nature of it, but they smiled, so it couldn't have been too bad.

"You're Chinese," Tigress said to the wolf. "How did you end up out here?"

"Same way you … two did."

Tigress and Tai Lung glanced at once another.

"That's unlikely," Tai Lung said.

"You weren't press...ganged?" the wolf asked. "Are you spies?"

"Yes," they replied in unison.

The wolf raised his eyebrows and nodded. "Don't ... have much for ... debrief. Been AWOL for years."

"Did they take you in combat?" Tai Lung asked.

The wolf shook his head. "On R and R. Whorehouse."

Tigress's eyes went wide.

"Mongol horde took all the girls as …. slaves ...press-ganged me into their unit."

"Well!" Tai Lung said "You must have impressed them."

The wolf grinned, baring blood-stained teeth. "The … the girls? You're ... goddam right."

Tai Lung laughed. "No, the Mongols! I hear they only press-gang the worthy."

"I put up a hell of a fight."

"And you can't be killed, apparently," Tigress said.

The wolf winked at her and grinned. "You could kill me, sweetheart. Any … any night of the week."

Tigress made a flustered sound, unable to bring herself to order a dying man to shut his mouth.

"Watch yourself, soldier. You're speaking to royalty," Tai Lung said. "This is Lady Flying Tigress of the Valley of Peace."

The wolf raised his eyebrows. Coughed. "Really? Ain't …. never met a royal...before. And a spy for her Empire? That's...nobility. A thousand … apologies, my Lady."

"I'm not- " Tigress began, but Tai Lung nudged her with his elbow. He was trying to spare her discomfort, she realized. Though it was a fib, it was a thoughtful one. She felt a sudden burst of warmth for him.

"It's fine," she said to the wolf, and gave Tai Lung a slow blink and a slight smile. He gave her a crooked, private little grin in return. Leaned just a bit closer to her, so their upper arms touched. A tiny thrill ricocheted up through her.

"I'd bow," the wolf said said, gesturing weakly to himself with his good arm.

"No, I – please, it's – you're fine," Tigress said, thrown by this lie, flustered by the feel of Tai Lung's arm pressing against hers. "Would you like more water?"

"Got any wine?"

"No."

"Yes," Tai Lung said, and began digging through the pack.

"You have wine?" Tigress asked Tai Lung.

"Yes in fact I do. Why?" he said, retrieving a bottle.

"What were you planning on doing with that?" Tigress asked wryly.

"If you must know, I thought I would share it with you on a cold night," Tai Lung said. "But instead I'll share it with this wolf, he's a tad more appreciative."

"I'm not sure wine will help him," Tigress whispered.

"It – what? Nothing's going to help him!" Tai Lung cried. "Of all the times for a man to drink! May as well send him off happy to the – where is it you wolves go, the Noble Wood?"

The wolf grimaced. "The Heavenly Den," he said. "But I ain't goin' there. Gotta do good … to go there. I ain't never done … a good thing … in my life."

"Well I'm...I'm sure that's not true," Tigress said. "I'm sure you've done lots of good things in your life."

The wolf shut his eyes and shook his head. "Only good thing … I ever tried to do … was this," he said, gesturing to the wreckage and carnage around them. "And see … how that turned out. My lady."

"You feel responsible for this somehow?" she asked.

"I … am responsible for this. Directly. My lady. I was...trying to save them."

"Who?"

"The girls," he replied. "My...my girls."

Tigress furrowed her brow. "Your...daughters?"

"I believe he's talking about the, ah … the prostitutes," Tai Lung said, looking from body to body. Tigress hadn't examined them closely, but upon a second glance she noticed a great many of them wore women's clothing – cheongsams and hanfus peeking out beneath blooded coats.

The wolf winced. "Was living in a border town. Spent … a lot of time with the … the girls. Was drinkin' and whorin' myself to – to death. Trying to forget...forget what I...did."

"What did you do?" Tigress asked.

"You were a mercenary," Tai Lung said.

"Worse than that. Worse. I was a paid ...thug. A killer. All the – the villages I robbed -and the houses I burned – but that house – he paid me so much to burn that house. He fuckin' hated her …. so much …. for marrying the other guy. Hired me to … to kill him. Slit 'em up, string 'em up. That was...supposed to be...it. But he – he -" the wolf began to cough violently, hacking up blood. Tigress made a move to try and fuss over him, but there was nothing she could do.

"It's okay," Tigress "You don't have to talk."

"I do," he said, grabbing Tigress's wrist with a surprising strength. She felt Tai Lung tense beside her. "I need to … tell someone...someone should...know."

"All right," Tigress said. "Then tell us."

He nodded in thanks. "She was...there. She and her...cubs. Tied them up. I killed the other guy...in front of them. He dragged her out of the house and beat...beat the hell out of her. I just...watched. Nothin' I ain't...seen before. But then he said... torch the bitch's house. I said …. cubs are inside. He starts...throwin' money at me. Says … I'll pay you...quadruple...what you'll make in … ten years. Just light it. Just...just light it. Mom was screaming...begging me...not to. But I..."

"You did it," Tigress said softly, her heart sinking into her stomach.

"The babies were … screaming – screaming – and mom, she...she died. Still alive but I...saw her..die, as she...listened to her babies...burn. Died in her...her eyes, long before he slit her throat." he said. "You gotta...understand...never wanted to kill any kids. But I was young, I thought – who needs – a heart? Take the damn thing. Fill my chest with money. Thought I was – I was tryin' to be - the hardest...fucker..alive. But after that I...I died. I died too. Couldn't stop thinkin' about … her eyes. Dreamt...dreamt about 'em. Dying. Couldn't contract anymore. Joined the army...trying to...forget. Went AWOL. Wandered. Stopped at that little whorehouse in that...border..town...and never left. Only thing that made me...feel...anything."

The wolf paused, breathing heavily. The telling of the tale was seeping the last of his energy, but he was driven to persist.

"Mongols...came. Captured us. Mongols were – usin' em. Usin' 'em up. I tried to - I wanted to -free them. Take 'em back to China. They were whores but they were – kind to me. Always so kind. So...sweet, every last...one of 'em. Took care of me when I was...sick. I … bounced the bad...Johns...out the door... for 'em. Kept 'em safe. They didn't – deserve -no one deserves what the Mongols were ... doin' to 'em," he stammered. "I broke us free. Them and whoever wanted to...come with us. All my plan. I had to...get them home. Couldn't...couldn't listen while they burned." The wolf grimaced with the memory. "Couldn't listen while they burned. But..." he gestured to the carnage. "The Mongol soldiers...caught up to us. Just my luck they...they left me alive...to hear it." The wolf's mouth twitched. He shut his eyes tight. "It's...what I deserve. All I ever fuckin' did was kill people. Even – even when I wanted them to - to live. My...my Lady."

Tigress took the wolf's hand. "The girls are waiting for you in the Heavenly Den," she said.

"You're not a wolf...My Lady," he scoffed. "You gotta do good to get into the den. I've never done a good thing in my whole...rotten life. I'm scum."

"You freed those girls," Tai Lung said. "That's a good thing."

"They're dead," he barked, and started to hack again.

"But you tried to save them," she replied. "You followed your heart. Out of the goodness of your heart...whatever goodness was left in you..."

"I loved them," the wolf replied, his voice vibrating with sorrow. "Oh god, I loved every last one of 'em."

"And that's why they're waiting for you in the Heavenly Den," Tigress said, tears pricking at her eyes. "You did a terrible thing when you burned that house. But you tried – you tried to - "

The wolf shook his head against her words. "No," he said.

Tigress took his hand in her and gripped it tight. "Listen. Listen to me," she said. "Anyone can be forgiven. Anyone. Even you."

"No," he said again.

"Even you," Tigress insisted. The wolf shook his head. "Even you. Are you listening to me, wolf? Even you." He shut his eyes tight against her words. She leaned closer. "I forgive you, wolf. I am Lady Flying Tigress of the Valley of Peace, and I forgive you."

The wolf's whole body constricted and he began to weep.

"I forgive you," she repeated. "I forgive you. And he does too," Tigress said, turning to Tai Lung. But Tai Lung wasn't looking at the wolf. He was looking at her, and with a look she'd never before seen in him, something she couldn't quite place. Like he'd been punched in the stomach, but … not quite. Shock, almost, only ...softer. It startled her.

"And he does too," Tigress repeated pointedly.

"I - " Tai Lung said, snapping to attention. He turned to the wolf. "I – me too. I do too. But if she does, then you -then you have the greatest thing in the world. If she forgives you then -then you are truly forgiven."

The weeping wolf took Tigress's hand and raised it to his lips. "Thank you," he said. "Thank you, my...My Lady. Thank you." He started hacking again. Tigress gently lifted his head and held the canteen to his mouth. As he drank she glanced at Tai Lung. He was still looking at her, still with that stunned, soft gaze. Whatever that gaze meant, she liked it, she realized. She liked him looking at her this way.

Tigress glanced at the small sack with the pipe that Tai Lung had placed on his knee.

"Maybe load that up," she whispered, smiling at him. "And open the wine."

o

The wolf's final pipe and final cup of wine were a surprisingly festive affair. He was barely able to choke down his wine and couldn't quite smoke his pipe, but he seemed glad for them, and the company. A weight had been lifted from him, the relief evident in his eyes. He told them his name -Bo Fang- which was his real name, he specified, that he hardly shared with anyone. But the conversation quickly grew dark as he contemplated his fate.

"Still don't know if … I'll get into the Heavenly Den...even with your blessing, My Lady," Bo Fang said. "But there's an...an in-between place. Maybe there."

"I'll light a candle for you," she said. "Intercede with the gods on your behalf."

"We know one personally," Tai Lung said. "Though I'm not sure he's one to grant favors."

Bo Fang smiled. "You two...are more than...I deserve." He raised the wine the wine weakly in his hand in a toast. Tigress and Tai Lung clinked his cup and drank. The taste of wine was growing on her -bright and juicy, the gag on the end fading with each mouthful.

"And that's that," Bo Fang said. He raised his eyes to Tai Lung. "Soldier. It's time," he said.

Tai Lung nodded gravely.

"It's time? Tigress asked. "Time for what?"

"You gave... a dying man... a drink, My Lady," Bo Fang said. "Now it's time for the...mercy kill."

Tigress's eyes widened. "Oh. I – can't we -?" But she knew there was nothing to be done. His back was broken and his stomach had begun to swell with internal bleeding. Even were they at a hospital there'd be little chance he would survive. He stood no chance in the tundra carried between the two of them. She took his hand, her eyes downcast. He squeezed.

"Will it...hurt?" Bo Fang asked Tai Lung.

Tai Lung shook his head. "You won't feel a thing."

"Okay. Okay... good. Really didn't want it to hurt," Bo Fang paused a moment, looking at them with eyes full of gratitude. "You two...be careful out there. The Mongols...don't...treat spies well."

"Don't worry," Tai Lung smirked. "I don't treat Mongols well."

"Good man," he said. He grasped Tai Lung's hand and shook it. "Good man, and his beautiful angel." He pointed at the sky. "I'll be keepin' an eye on you two."

"It will be a comfort to know that, Bo Fang," Tigress whispered. "It's been an honor to know you."

"Honor is...mine. Both of you." He raised his glass again to the sunset. "Sun's going down. Guess we'll go down together. Good-goodbye, sun." He smiled sadly at Tigress, then glanced at Tai Lung, lay back and shut his eyes. "Do your worst."

Tai Lung took a deep breath, then slid his hand facing up beneath Bo Fang. The wolf's ear twitched, almost as if in interest. "Be at peace, friend," Tai Lung whispered into it, and just like that the wolf's breath stopped and he went limp. Tai Lung had killed him via the point on the spine that, when pressed hard enough, caused instant death. The point where Oogway placed the needle inside Tai Lung's prison shell.

He withdrew his hand and sighed. Tigress took the wolf's hands and placed them on his chest.

"Should we bury him?" she asked.

Tai Lung shook his head. "It grows dark. We don't have time." He got to his feet and put the pack on. Tigress hovered over the body for a moment, suddenly reluctant to leave.

"Tigress," Tai Lung said gently, "you did more than enough for him. You gave him a peaceful death."

He offered her his hand.

"You did that," she said, taking it.

"No, you did that. You gave his soul rest. I merely showed it the door." He lifted her to his feet but did not release her hand, keeping it in his as they walked. "That was merciful of you. Incredibly kind."

"I - " Tigress said, glancing down at their hands, wondering why he hadn't let go. "It's – you helped him too. He seemed to already know you."

"I spent quite a bit of time with the Emperor's forces," he said. "I was to be an officer. A general, eventually. A soldier knows another soldier."

"You kept him in good spirits."

"He kept himself in good spirits," Tai Lung said, chuckling softly. "Half dead and still made a pass at you. I kind of admire that."

"Well you put a quick stop to it, with that fake title," Tigress said, smiling. "But why Lady Flying Tigress?"

"Because," Tai Lung said. "You're an angel."

Tigress stopped breathing for a split second. "O – oh," she stammered.

"The wolf was smart. He called it the second he saw you." He squeezed her hand. "Took me a bit longer."

He's holding my hand, Tigress realized. He called me an angel and he's holding my hand.

Her head swam. Her chest burned. They'd both had some wine, she remembered. That was – surely – what was behind this. This wasn't- they didn't – there had never been hand holding before. Hand-holding, and that look from earlier – the way he was looking at her -

She glanced up. He was looking at her that way again, that soft sweet stupid gaze, the way she'd sometimes imagined Lord Xan would look at her when he returned to the Jade Palace to ask for her hand. But it was Tai Lung that had her hand. She glanced down again in disbelief. He hadn't let go.

And neither … neither had she.

Her heart pounded. She had to say something. Anything. "How - how far along are we towards catching the road, do you think?"

He shrugged. Loosened his grip on her hand just to hold it tighter. She held her breath at the feel of his pads against hers, the warmth of skin against skin. "A little more than a week, I reckon. We're making good time. If we keep making good time we'll be back to the Valley of Peace in just under three years. Right as spring hits summer." He smiled. "The Peach Tree will be blooming."

It was a lovely thought. That was the best time of year in the Valley of Peace. The Peach Tree wafted such a delicious scent over the courtyard and into the training hall. And it would be so good to see the training hall again. To see her friends, and her Master.

But what about him?

"Tai Lung," she asked. "What will you do when we get there?

He smiled. "I don't know. Have a look around, I suppose. Take a spin in the training hall." He brushed his thumb over her fingers. "Take you to the sweet shop. Buy you a treat."

She laughed in delighted disbelief. "That's – that's all?"

"Well," he said. "One has to see what's on rotation in the Hall of Warriors, of course."

"Tourist," she teased.

"Ha! I suppose I should wear clacking shoes and talk loudly too? I swear sometimes I could hear them in the courtyard. Difficult to concentrate on form over some pig yelling Hey Lin! Get a fat load of this sword!"

Tigress laughed aloud.

He grinned. "But no. You know what I actually plan to do? Once I retrieve my scroll, of course?"

All at once Tigress went cold. At the mention of his scroll she suddenly remembered who exactly it was that held her hand.

Who presumed to hold her hand.

She resisted the temptation to tear it away. "What will you do?"

His grin turned smug. "I'm going to drain the Moon Pool and see what else lies in Oogway's Chamber of Horrors," he said. "The Black Scrolls were far from the only artifact in there. It's filled with mysterious enchanted things. Things that could make us powerful beyond our wildest dreams. You'll see," he said, patting her hand. "It will be glorious."

Her heart withered in her ribs, watery and heavy. She'd wanted to believe it, she realized. She wanted believe in the man who'd been so kind to a dying wolf, that held her hand and gave her an angel's name. He wasn't real – of course he wasn't– but nonetheless the falling illusion broke her heart on the way down.

She took a big step back from him, jerking her hand out of his grasp.

"Never," she said.

He paused for a moment. His shoulders fell. He rolled his eyes. "Tigress-"

This enraged her. "You know for a second – for a split second there – I almost forgot. I almost forgot that you're nothing but a selfish, spoiled child who will stop at nothing to get his way."

Anger flashed across his face. "Tigress - " he said sternly.

"Not even the Dragon Scroll is enough for you now? You have to raid Oogway's other belongings too?"

"Of course! Tigress, if you had any idea what's down there - "

"I don't care what's down there!" she shouted.

"You should!" he shouted back. "What's down there will make us powerful beyond measure! As we should be! The Jade Palace has never turned out a finer pair of warriors. Everything in it is ours by right!"

"Ours!?" Tigress burst. "As though I would ever join you in this? I would sooner shove a sword through my chest than dishonor the Jade Palace in such a way! You were raised there! It's your home! How is it that you spent your entire life there without understanding a single thing it stands for! Kung Fu isn't about the grasping of power for power's sake!"

"Tell that to Shifu!"

"STOP BLAMING SHIFU!" she shouted. "If I hear you blame Shifu one more time I'll tear your throat out! This is you, this is a problem in you! There's something wrong with you! Nothing's ever enough! It's exactly as Shifu said, it was never enough for you! You just eat and eat and eat! Just like you ate Shifu's heart and left nothing for – for anyone else!"

"For you, you mean."

She flustered but ignored him. "You want to power beyond measure? You don't deserve power beyond measure. Oogway didn't choose you for the Dragon Scroll because you didn't deserve it and this is why. Because even the Dragon Scroll wouldn't be enough! You'd be after the next thing you thought would bring you power, and the next, and the next!"

Tai Lung growled. He tore the pack from his shoulders and let it drop into the snow, glaring at her.

"What are you going to do?" Tigress asked, putting her hands in fists. "What are you going do, hm? Hit me? Go ahead. Do it. Hit me. Kill me, even. It won't be enough for you. Nothing will ever be enough for you. Kill me, kill Shifu. Destroy the Valley of Peace. Take the scroll, take all of Oogway's magical things. You'll still wander hungry your whole life, Tai Lung."

He snarled, the hair on his shoulders and neck rising. Tigress snapped her body into a ready stance and lifted her chin, ready for a fight. Tai Lung's eyes widened for a split second. He made a sound of pure frustration and tore his gaze from her. Took a deep breath. Took another.

"So," he said, still breathing deeply, trying to calm himself. "So when it comes to a dying wolf who killed women and children for money, your heart is a deep well of forgiveness. But for me? Not a drop."

"The wolf showed remorse," Tigress said, not breaking her ready stance. "You've never shown any. It's as though murdering your neighbors rolled right off your back and twenty years in prison taught you nothing."

"So remorse is what you want?" he asked, his voice low.

"Remorse is what should be there."

"You're right," he replied. "You're absolutely right."

She blinked. "I- I am?"

"You are. But you see, what use is the hospital wrecking, temple destroying, people-murdering Tip of the Blade if he's wracked with guilt for every horrific deed he's ordered to commit? Hm? You're smart. You think the author of the Black Scrolls didn't account for that? I feel nothing when I'm in that state, Tigress, and I feel nothing after – just as I was trained to. So as much as I'd like to show remorse for that night, you've asked for the one thing I cannot give." He straightened. Summoned his pride. "But ...Tigress... I can give you everything else."

Her chest and throat began to burn. "Your – your remorse is all I want."

He looked at her knowingly. "No. No, I don't think so. Let's put a fine point on this Tigress, shall we? Let's get down to brass tacks. You are angry because you feel that due to me Shifu did not love you as a daughter. The way you deserved. Because I – what did you say – ate his heart? I'm the sadness of your whole life – all my fault. I'm the cause of all your problems."

Tigress was flabbergasted. "I -" she stammered. "I -"

"Shifu is a fool!" he burst. "And if he cannot see you as a worthy daughter then he is blind as well! He was blind with me, he was blind with you, the man cannot see. And neither can you. All you can see is that I'm the reason you're sad. But did you ever stop to think I could be the reason you're happy?"

No," she nearly choked. "Your remorse is all I want."

He just looked at her. His voice went gentle. "Tigress...I know you're-"

She shut her eyes against tears.

"You know nothing," she whispered, her shoulders falling. "And you don't understand anything. All I want is your remorse, Tai Lung. Without that, there's nothing else from you I can accept."

She did not open her eyes. She did not look at him.

He was silent for a few long, heavy moments.

"I...see," he finally said, his voice flat.

"Good," she replied, turning away from him, her stomach churning sourly. "Then let's keep walking."

She strode off ahead of him, trying to harden her heart, not understand why something she was so skilled at now proved so difficult. Her very body rebelled against each step she took. She wanted to turn around and run to him with apologies, to take his face between her hands and believe in him. She wanted him to call her an angel, to press the pads of her hands against his so she could feel that warmth, that affection – even if that affection wasn't worth much, it was still the most she'd ever felt.

She made a tiny strangled sound.

And I ruined it, she thought. I just broke his heart all over again.

She growled, clawing the thought from her mind. I've ruined nothing! You cannot break what does not exist. He is trying to charm you because he wants to mate with you, and that is all. And the thought of it sickens you.

It didn't. She was famished at the thought of tasting his mouth, of pressing herself to his huge chest, of feeling his breath on her neck. It left her breathless with want. Even he could see she was breathless with want.

She narrowed her eyes. Set her jaw.

It. Sickens. You.

She put her hands in fists. Opened and closed them. Suddenly she took of running on all fours, the tension in her body too much. She needed to move. Tai Lung called after her but when she glanced back over her shoulder he was not giving chase. Good. Now he knew better. And she would keep two and a half miles between them all the way back to the Jade Palace if she had to.

She dashed into the moonlight, the cold night air wonderful in her fur. She breathed deeply, finally finding freedom in the widening space between them. Yet she wanted to weep. And hated the part of herself that wanted to weep. That deep, gutteral part of herself that refused to be quenched by reason.

It cannot be, she scolded it. It cannot be. It will not be. It never was. Shifu did not train you for this. He did not train you to be some man's woman. Especially not THAT man's woman.

She shut her eyes against the moon and ran up a hill. Tai Lung called to her again, his voice closer and more urgent now, but she ignored it. No, she thought, never. I'll be free of you if it's the last thing I -

His hand clapped down on her shoulder. She yelped, opened her eyes, and startled at what she saw before her.

Coming up the other side of the hill was a party thirty strong, armored, carrying torches. They were yaks, rhinos, and horses, all huge, all scarred, all dirty. A terrible reek of death came off them, more specifically off the wagon they drew behind them – filled with rotting heads, she realized.

Tigress and Tai Lung turned their backs to one another in ready stances, as they had been trained when facing an enemy as a team. The leader of the party emerged, smirking at them as he strode up the hill. He was a massive stallion with beads in his matted mane. He dragged a pair of spiked maces, each likely heavier than Tigress. Fur rested about his shoulders. Grey, spotted fur.

The hide of a snow leopard.

Tai Lung growled. She growled along with him. Together they sounded powerful.

"Tigress," Tai Lung said. "Does Shifu still teach from the cookbook?"

It was the colloquial name for the scrolls in which Shifu kept his battle plans. "Yes," she replied.

"Recall a recipe called Shit-Storm?"

She smirked. "Roger that."

"Good," Tai Lung said. "Let's do some damage."


	10. Chapter 10

It felt good to fight.

To punch and kick and tear. Her body with all it's longings finally had an outlet in the form of her foot through yak snout, her claws swiping stallion ribs, her fist in Ox throat. She sank herself into the pleasure of watching it dawn on the Mongol's faces that their entire unit of thirty was being utterly demolished by a strike force of two.

Tigress and Tai Lung went through them fast. They fought in perfect synch, as though they'd been training together for years. Tigress sent a trio of boar flying as the lead stallion lunged at Tai Lung, who used that opportunity to leap snarling upon his back. The stallion gave a high, keening cry and began to buck, his maces swinging wildly. Tai Lung roared as another Mongol tried to pull him off the stallion by his tail. As she narrowly dodged one swinging mace she caught Tai Lung's eyes, wide and full of urging. He swept at the Mongol on his tail and yanked the stallion's head back by his mane, holding his neck vulnerable for Tigress like a target. She leapt for it instantly, instinctively, claws out, her blood singing.

Tai lung turned, eager to catch it. The look of satisfaction and lust in his eyes as he watched her take the stallion down sparked a wildfire in her chest.

There was a long, low sound. They turned. A rhino lifted a huge bone instrument to his mouth and took off running as he blew into it. He was calling someone – or warning someone – either way he had to go. She flew at at him, aiming her heel into the back of his neck. But Tai Lung beat her to it in the form of another rhino, who he swung into the first by his horn. She flipped and landed before him. His face fell, and with two great leaps he had his arms around her, forearms swinging as he deflected arrows that had been aimed directly at her head, sending them back to their owner's throat.

"Thank you," she whispered.

He grinned. "Of course."

He was so close to her, panting, smelling of sweat and blood and soot. She had an urge, an urge that came up from the very bottoms of her feet, to take him by his great shoulders and pull his mouth down to hers so she could taste him. Her knees threatened to buckle. Her first kiss, on the battlefield, heated and savage and -

-and wrong.

There was another long, low hooting. Another horn-blower. Tai Lung snapped back into the fight and leapt roaring after him. Tigress hung back for a moment, reclaiming herself from the deep hard ache that was rapidly becoming familiar. Tai Lung effortlessly leapt back into the fray. The best distraction was to join him, so she did. Side by side they cut a snarling swath through the remaining Mongols until no more stood to challenge them. They landed panting in the snow.

"That's all of them, I think," Tai Lung said, proudly surveying their devastation.

"They didn't see that coming," Tigress remarked, catching her breath.

Tai Lung laughed, jerking his head towards the dead stallion. "Thought he was gonna get a new coat. Instead he got a slit throat," he said. "It's good, fighting alongside you."

She gave a firm nod. "Thank you. Likewise."

"We're a good team."

"I - " Tigress stammered. "I suppose."

"You suppose?" he asked. "You know."

She grimaced and averted her eyes.

"Tigress," Tai Lung said urgently. He reached out and took her hand. She took an unconscious step back but he did not let go.

"What are you - ?"

"Tigress, you should know I intend to woo you," he said.

Her eyes went wide. She burned. Her heart flip-flopped in her chest.

"Stop," she whispered.

Suddenly all the fur on the back of Tigress's neck stood on end. She looked at Tai Lung and saw he felt it too. Their ears pricked up, trying to hear, but there was nothing but wind, and now snow. She glanced up and saw it before she was aware of seeing it – something giant and feathered and descending rapidlly.

An eagle the size of a mammoth, bearing down upon them with razor sharp talons.

o

They ran.

It was difficult running through the rapidly deepening snow and the increasingly harsh wind, but panic lightened the load. Tigress and Tai Lung glanced at one another in a mutual terrified bafflement. She'd never even heard of a bird this size, much less had one's talons a whisper from the back of her neck.

It seized her around the waist and shoulders, pinning her arms to her sides. She cried out and struggled. Tai Lung shouted in rage and sped up his pace, roared, jumped at the bird's foot with his claws out, almost latching on but not quite. With a sickening crack the bird kicked Tai Lung hard in the ribs, hard enough to send him flying end over end, landing chin-first in the snow. With a mighty flap they lifted into the air and he was gone.

Now pure rage overtook Tigress, and an absolute terror for her life. She squirmed with all her might, willing air out of her lungs, willing her very muscles to flatten against her bones so she could slide her arms out of the bird's iron grip. She kicked and sank her teeth into the scales of its foot. It did no damage but was enough to make it twitch. That gave her the space she needed to free her limbs and start a campaign of terror against the bird's ankle with her claws, shredding the flesh there over and over in the same place. It took a few swipes but finally blood spilled over her hands and the bird screamed – an unholy shriek that hurt her ears even against the wind. It shook her hard once, twice, but she kept at it, intending to slice till bone if she had to. It shook her again, hard enough to make her insides quiver. She roared in frustration and kept cutting until she felt something snap and the foot went limp.

She fell.

And as she fell she saw a dark form leap roaring onto the bird's back. The bird screamed and struggled against what had to be Tai Lung, who had somehow learned to fly in order to apprehend her abductor.

There was an impact that drove all the air out of her body. A cacophany of cracks and snapping and pain before she finally came to a stop. Everywhere around her twigs and sticks, and far below her the sounds of the giant bird shrieking and struggling, the cries gradually strangling as Tai Lung somehow shut it's massive windpipe and forced it down into death.

She took comfort from that. She was being swayed gently. She could not feel her body. She shut her eyes.

She slept.

o

"Tigress!" a voice whispered urgently.

She opened her eyes and looked up at Tai Lung.

"You can fly," she croaked.

"What?" he said, wincing against the wind. "No, I – we're in a tree. He took you over a cliff, I jumped after you - "

"What?" she asked, trying to shift around so she could could see.

"Tigress, don't m-"

She screamed as fire seared her from the inside.

"Don't move!" Tai Lung commanded.

She gasped. "Oh god," she said. "Oh no. How bad –? "

She looked at his eyes and her blood ran cold.

"It's bad," she whispered.

"It's not -it's not that bad."

"Don't – don't lie -" She lifted her left hand and feebly felt along her chest to the source of the pain, her right shoulder.

"Tigress - "

Her fingers hit a branch. But her fingers were still on her body.

"Tigress," he said again and gently tried to stay her hand, but it was too late. Her finger pads slid around the branch, trying to make sense of what they felt, how they could encircle the branch entirely yet still sit on her body. She tilted her head to try to see but her head was blocked by that very same branch, as though it was sprouting from her shoulder, because -

-because it was sprouting from her shoulder. It had gone clear through her when she landed, impaling her in the treetop.

"Tai Lung," she said, her voice rising with fear. "Tai Lung - "

"I'm here," he said. "Don't move."

She stared at it, horrified. "Tai Lung, I'm going to die."

He began doing something next to her, ducking under her and looking around at the branches.

"No," he said. "You're not."

"This- this is not survivable," she said, queerly numb to the fact. "This is death. This- this is death."

"This is not death," he said, his voice sounding very calm and reasonable, but she could tell it was an affectation. "I am going to get you out of this tree, and I am going to get you to help."

"There's no one out here to help."

"We'll find someone."

"There's no one," she croaked.

"We'll find them."

He moved the branches under her somehow, which sent reverberations through the branch in her body. She yelped in pain. "Tai Lung! Tai Lung, there's no one, please - "

"Be quiet," he said.

"Tai Lung!"

"Be QUIET!" he shouted.

Tigress gasped. "Don't – don't yell at me -"

"Tigress," he said, a hint of agony in his voice. "I'm sorry. But I am not going not going to let you die in a tree in Mongolia. This is not how you die."

"How do I die?"

He leaned close to her. "You die in bed, of old age, surrounded by your great grand children and mementos of your victories. That is how Master Tigress meets her end. Not here, and not now. You are going back home, back to the Valley of Peace. Back to Shifu. Understand?"

No, she wanted to say. I don't understand you. You are delusional. I am going to die. Even if you do get me out of the tree, we are in a wasteland, and any minute now we'll be in a blizzard. There is no hope here.

She grimaced.

I am going to die.

She looked up into the sky and saw nothing.

I am going to die without seeing the night sky again.

"Tigress, do you understand me?" Tai Lung insisted again.

"I wish," she breathed, "I wish I could at least see the stars."

"What?" Tai Lung asked, his voice full of anguish. "What are you talking about?"

"The stars," she said weakly. "I want to see the stars. Just one – one last time."

"Tigress, listen to me," he said, taking her hand. "You will see the stars again. I will tear each one down from the sky and show it to you. I will knit them into a chain and put it around your neck but first I am going to get you down from this tree, and I need your help to do that. I need you to focus. You are not dying tonight. Do you understand me? Focus. Mind tactical."

She shut her eyes against his pleading. She was tired. She was so, so tired.

Tai Lung gently placed his forehead to hers.

"Does a warrior ever give up, Tigress?" he whispered. The warmth of his breath was comforting.

She made a tiny strangled sound.

"Does a warrior ever give up?" he insisted.

"A warrior - " she said. "A warrior - "

"What does a warrior do?" he asked again, softly, the exact way Shifu would when she was small and weeping with frustration during training. And she suddenly remembered her training. Her life and her home and her Master, and that she was a Master.

She was a warrior. And a warrior...

"A warrior...never gives up," she said.

"Yes!" Tai Lung crowed victoriously. "Good! Say it again, a warrior never gives up."

"A warrior never gives up."

"Good! Good girl! That's my good girl, that's my little savage. Never gives up, never giving up." He squeezed her hand. "Good. Good."

She shut her eyes tight and squeezed back. "What's the plan?"

"I need to cut the branch."

"Tell me this isn't an ironwood."

"It's – I – I don't know, Tigress, I'm not up to date on my botany. I think I can do it in one go. One swipe."

"Get ready," she said. "You'll feel it."

"What?"

"It'll hurt. Every time the branch moves it hurts. It hurts a lot. And you'll feel it."

His face fell. He swallowed.

"Then – then so be it. We'll feel it together. All right? On three."

She winced. "On – on three."

"One," he said. "Two. Three."

Instantly her world was reduced to searing, and screaming. All she could feel was bark and splinters twisting inside her, against raw flesh. It was pain on a level that instantly erased any hope of decorum. She howled in high-pitched and undignified agony until the branch finally broke and Tai Lung caught her in his arms. She collapsed into open-mouthed, silent sobbing as he clutched her to him and began wrapping something around her.

"I have you, I have you, I have you," he chanted.

A hot sword plunged into her heel and up through her calf. She shrieked.

"What's wrong?"

"My - my leg." She tried to turn to see the damage and in the process upset the branch that was still in her shoulder – they could not remove because, as Shifu always said, that's how you bleed to death. She cried out.

"Hold still!" Tai Lung shouted.

"Is it broken?"

"Probably. I said hold still!"

Tigress did as he asked, panting and heaving as every nerve in her body slowly settled from agony. She tried not to writhe against him as he fashioned a makeshift sling out of his cloak, hanging her about his shoulders and neck like an infant.

"Okay," he confirmed. "Now we're getting out of the tree."

"How did you feel all that and keep going?" she gasped.

"I didn't feel it," he said as he slowly moved from branch to branch with her.

"You didn't?"

"No. I think it's because I wasn't trying to harm you. Perhaps it only works if we're trying to hurt each other. The god did tell us to stop hurting each other, if you recall."

"Not at the moment," she said through grit teeth.

"Well. He did," Tai Lung said. He coughed, wincing. "But that's okay, you don't have to recall. All you have to do is live."

"Why are we climbing up?"

"Up," he said. "Out of the ravine. Find the pack. Get back to the road. Road's the best bet for help."

"The road is days away."

Tai Lung didn't have a response to that. He coughed again. Wiped his mouth. Looked at his fingers in alarm.

"Tai Lung - ?"

He didn't reply. Kept climbing.

"Tai Lung!" she insisted.

"A warrior never gives up," he said.

At that moment they came up over the lip of the ravine. The wind howled hard off the flat plain. Snow blew in savagely, directly against them. Tai Lung tried feebly to block the wind from her face with her hand. He looked down at her. His eyes were full of fear but he smiled.

"You'll be all right," he said, and lifted the fabric of his cloak over her face to deflect the worst of the wind. He began to walk, wincing, each step an effort against the roaring cold – and, apparently, injury. How many of these labored steps would it take before they reached the road? And how many more before they reached help?

Too many. By any calculation she could possibly make, too many.

I'm not going to be all right, Tai Lung, she thought. I am definitely, definitely going to die.


	11. Chapter 11

The shock wore off, and the pain grew.

And grew.

She screamed into Tai Lung's chest. He could not hear her, the storm was so loud she could barely hear herself. Eventually she couldn't scream anymore. Exhausted she went limp and sank into the sling. This felt dangerous somehow, as though by relaxing she would subtly encourage death. But she no longer had the energy to protest.

Tai Lung felt the sudden loss of tension in Tigress's body and stopped in alarm. He pulled back the bit of sling protecting her face, eyes wide with concern.

She gave him a flimsy thumbs-up, weeping. He nodded and covered her up again.

After what felt like ages Tai Lung stopped and bent over to drag his hands through the snow, looking for the pack, which he had dropped in order to fight. There was a rustling, then he pushed the sling out of her face. He leaned close to her, shouting.

"Tigress!" he said. "Tigress, I found it!"

She opened her eyes. They were behind something large that blocked most of the wind. The stink hit her – it was the Mongols' wagon full of heads, quickly turning into a white monolith of accumulated snow and rotting flesh.

She gasped and cried out. Her shoulder was being torn apart by a thousand hot fishhooks; her entire leg below the knee was surely twisted in a knot. She tried to breathe steadily. Tai Lung held something close to her face, small and cylindrical and shiny.

"Medicine," he said. "Yanhusuo. I knew I had a bottle in the pack."

"Give it to me," Tigress urged.

Tai Lung uncorked the vial and put it to her lips. It was a familiar reek of vinegar – Shifu had administered Yanhusuo several times to Tigress when she had dislocated her knee or broken her tail. She'd never liked the sour scent of it but at the moment it smelled like heaven. Tai Lung gingerly tipped some into her mouth. Not enough. She tried to tip the bottle further but he gently knocked her hand away and drew the vial back.

"No," he said. "We must ration it for as long as we can."

"But that won't do anything," she said, her voice curling with desperation.

"It will take the edge off."

"Tai Lung, please - " she cried, writhing.

"Tigress!" Tai Lung barked. "You are a Master! Remember yourself!"

A net of shame descended upon her. It was Shifu's tactic, and it was effective – Shifu always taught that a Master should retain her decorum and dignity even in pain. Not that anything could have possibly prepared her for this level of pain. This was no mere twisted ankle.

She growled.

He smiled. Put his great paw on her forehead. The pads felt frozen solid.

"I know you're in pain, little savage, but you must be still," he said. "If you become emotional and panic you'll only hurt yourself further. All right?"

She nodded.

Squinting against the snow, she saw a smear of blood on his chin. She reached up and touched it, showing him the red on her finger.

He straightened. Made a determined face.

"You should have some Yanhusuo too," she said.

"Absolutely not. It is for you."

He gave a rumbling, wet cough. Held his fist to his mouth.

"Tai Lung - "

"I won't hear of it!"

He bent down and lifted something over his shoulders. The pack, she realized. He coughed again. If he was coughing blood he had some kind of internal injury -not surprising, considering how hard the bird had kicked him in the chest. How long, exactly, did he think he could keep going?

He'll keep going till he drops, Tigress knew. A warrior never gives up. Especially not this one.

She had less faith, saw their situation for what it was. But to take this sense of purpose from him seemed cruel.

His freezing cold paw closed over her hand and squeezed. He'd slid his arm into the sling with her. She took his hand between both of hers to warm it. He glanced down at her once last time, unsuccessfully trying to hide the pain in his eyes.

"Ready?' he asked.

She nodded, then shut her eyes and rested against him. He dropped the sling back over her face and strode forward against a wall of white.

o

The Yanhusuo did not do much, but it did indeed take the edge off. It was as though the pain moved behind a frosted plane of glass. It was still there, and still massive, but it was diffuse and aching instead of clear and stabbing. Or perhaps it was her mind it diffused while the pain remained in place, she could never quite tell. She tried to dissolve herself into it as much as possible, letting the steady rhythm of Tai Lung's stride soothe her.

It was, she supposed, time to make her peace. To take stock of her life and prepare herself for the Spirit Realm. To say goodbye in her heart to her Master, and her team, to her home and training and the Valley. To music and dancing.

Firelight.

Summer.

A bright ache of regret washed over her. There was so much she still wanted to do, she suddenly realized. This came as quite a shock to her. Tigress was not in the habit of noting her desires, much less indulging them. She'd grown up prepared for death, or so she thought. But now she'd have liked to win more kung-fu tournaments, to make Shifu shine with pride. To see his face when she finally mastered her thousandth kung-fu scroll, so two of his students would have completed them. To become the Dragon Warrior and make all his sacrifice and pain worth it in the end.

And then she might have had time to swim in the ocean. To spend a day on sand with salt in her fur. She hadn't eaten enough peaches or sweet bean buns. Not enough Winter Feasts, not enough laughter, too many pushed away hugs or avoided touches. She regretted them sharply now, regretting the most that moment in battle mere hours ago where she'd wanted with everything in her to kiss Tai Lung, but she did not. So now she would march off into death untouched by love, if what Tai Lung felt for her was indeed love.

Her muzzle was cold. She turned to bury it in his fur. He smelled wonderful, even now. She could not remember a time where he hadn't smelled incredible, though for the life of her she could not pinpoint what particular note it was that had this effect. There was a dreamy sort of musk to him. Feline. Male. Breathing him in eased her pain, made her feel safe.

She glanced up at him. His eyes were locked forward, face determined and encrusted with snow.

She squeezed his hand. He squeezed back, then removed his hand only to slide the other one in to be warmed. She took it between hers and massaged it gently till it was soft and warm and pliable, then pressed it to her chest and fell asleep.

o

"Tigress," Tai Lung urged softly.

Her eyes opened. Right away the fishooks were back, fishooks and scimitars, peeling knives flaying her skin. She gave a pathetic little wail.

"Here, here, here," Tai Lung said, touching the Yanhusuo bottle to her lips. "For you. There." He took it away far sooner than she would have liked but there was no use getting greedy.

"Where are we?" she asked, realizing the wind was at a mere dull roar.

"Behind a rock outcropping."

"We staying here?"

He shook his head. "Just resting for a moment. We'll get going again soon." He slid his warmed hand from her chest to cup her face. She leaned into the contact unashamedly. He smiled at this. "How are you doing?"

She shook her head.

He nodded. "The Yanhusuo will kick in shortly."

He blinked slowly and stroked her cheek with such tenderness that hot tears pricked at her eyes. She gave a ragged gasp, embarrassed, but the pain and the enormity of impending death overwhelmed her and she began to weep. Everything all at once, she'd never know more of this sweet touch, she'd never smell peach blossoms again, she'd never see Shifu again. He might never know what had happened to her. It was horribly unfair. It would be too much for Shifu. He would remain forever in pieces.

Tai Lung, seeing her tears, leaned over her and pressed his cold muzzle to her forehead, rocking her like a child.

"Tai Lung," she said. "You must – you must make me a promise."

"Anything."

"You must return to the Jade Palace. You have to make it back."

"I plan on it," he said. "And you will be at my side."

"Tai Lung," she said again, tilting his chin down so his eyes met hers. She gently cupped his face in her hand, shaking her head. "Listen to me. When you return to the Valley of Peace -"

"When we ret-"

She pressed her finger to his lips. "When you return to the Valley of Peace for your scroll - take the scroll if you must. No one will be able to stop you. But you must promise me – you must promise me – that you won't kill Shifu."

His face darkened. "It's not my goal to kill Shifu. But if he starts a fight, Tigress, he'll get a fight."

"If you refuse to fight he will not fight you," she said. "He still loves you. He never loved anyone the way he loved you. You broke him – you – you broke him – and you – you are the reason I wanted to be the Dragon Warrior, Tai Lung."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I didn't care about limitless power for myself. I wanted it for him. With limitless power I could make him whole again. Limitless power is what it would take to put him back together. It's all I've ever wanted, and if you take that from me - I - I will spit at you and curse your name from beyond the grave. I will summon every manner of bad luck to find you. Every demon I can enlist. Even if I am dead I will never give you a moment's peace."

"If you die I will never have a moment's peace anyway," he said. "So do your worst, spirit girl."

The Yanhusuo began to creep in, making everything fuzzy around the edges.

"Tai Lung," she said softly. "Please. Just don't kill him." Her voice lowered to a whisper and she shut her eyes tight. "It would break my heart."

His face fell. "Tigress..."

"Please. Please just promise me. Promise me so I can die in peace."

"Then I promise nothing," he declared. "You'd better stay alive, Tigress. You have to stay alive, or who knows what might happen to Shifu. Understand? It's his head." He squeezed her hand. "So stay with me."

Her eyes widened in outrage.

"You're a jerk," she said. She hit him. It was not much, just a light smack on the chest, but it was what she could do. "You're a jerk," she said again, kicking nothing with her good leg. "You're a jerk, you're a jerk, you're a jerk!"

"Yes. I'm the worst. Horrible. A murderous villain only you can save him from, Master Tigress. So you must be strong for him." He moved to lift the sling over her face again but paused, pressing his hand to her cheek. "Be strong," he urged. He covered her face once more and headed back out into the storm.

o

"Hey sweetie," Viper said.

It was bright outside, and hot. The moon pool was the ideal place to cool down on a day like this. Somewhere far off it occurred to Tigress that taking a dip in the moon pool was usually frowned upon, but she still felt confident in the idea. Viper was wound over her neck and shoulder and they were both baking alive in this heat. Surely a little swim wouldn't hurt.

She floated up the steps to the Hall of Warriors. Viper giggled in her ear. She was slithered around Tigress so tight that every time the snake moved it hurt her shoulder terribly.

"Stop that," Tigress scolded her.

"It's fine!" Viper said, smiling in a way that felt dishonest. "You'll be fine. Get in the water."

Suddenly they were at the moon pool. Tigress put one foot in, then the other. The water felt so wonderfully cool and inviting that it was easy to slide all the way in. She briefly ducked her head under, pushed the water out of her eyes, and sat near the rim of the pool, though she didn't remember there being any seats in the moon pool before.

"When did they put these in?" she asked Viper.

"When they drained it to clean it," Viper said with a giggle. "There's all kinds of horrors inside."

There was that sharp pain in her shoulder again! She gave a little yelp.

"It's fine!" Viper said. "Everything's going to be fine."

"Tigress!" Shifu shouted.

Tigress froze. He was angry at her for swimming in the moon pool. She suddenly realized the full gravity of what she had done - she'd polluted something holy with her body. Her guts froze. She tried to tun to face her Master, to grovel with apologies, but found she could not. Viper was blocking her face somehow.

"Tigress, what do you think you're doing!?" Shifu screamed. "You've brought dishonor on the Jade Palace! You've brought dishonor on your home!"

The water began to churn. Viper's grip on her tightened. Tigress managed to turn her head only to see Shifu looming over her, standing at least ten feet tall, his eyes glowing with rage. Tigress gasped and shrunk into herself.

"I'm so sorry, Master!" she cried, her voice young and girlish. "I'm so sorry!"

He leaned over the lip of the pool, peering at her like a thief. "And what do you think that is?' he asked, jerking his chin towards her shoulder.

She looked down, and to her horror she saw that that Viper was not in fact curled around her, but was instead inside her, threaded right through her shoulder like a string through a bead. Tigress screamed. The water began to churn harder, tearing her away from the lip of the pool.

"It's fine!" Viper said, sounding chipper. "You have to be strong. It's his head," she said, gesturing towards the raging, irrationally large spectre of Shifu.

"What do you think you're DOING?" Shifu shouted again as the current in the pool sped up. Viper giggled as Tigress was engulfed in a whirling tornado of water that drew her down deep, and deeper, down to the bottom of the pool where she would surely drown. She flailed and tried desperately to swim back up to the surface, but her feet were planted firmly on the floor of the pool, stuck in place so she could not move them.

This is death, Tigress knew. This is not survivable.

"Tigress!" Shifu cried. "Tigress, don't you dare go in there - "

The floor under her slid open and she fell a thousand feet into darkness, into a quiet hollow. The water did not follow her and surface under her was soft. She rolled on her back, suddenly warm and dry. Above her rose stone walls hundreds of feet tall. She was safe inside a mountain, she realized. She was in Chorch-Gom. She supposed that was not good, but anything was better than that terrible whirlpool and Shifu's rage.

"It's better now," said a melodious voice.

She sat up and turned to see Tai Lung. He lounged on a pile red silk pillows upon a huge round red silk bed, beneath a crystal chandelier. Silk scarves painted with suggestive scenes hung from from the rafters. He grinned at her, his eyes narrow and pleased. His wrists were chained - he was a prisoner. There was a deliciously inviting scent in the air. He lifted his finger and beckoned her closer, purring softly.

She crawled near to him, to his beckoning finger. He put it beneath her chin and lifted her face to his, the chain on his wrist clinking pleasingly.

"I'll have you know I intend to woo you," he whispered, stroking her face.

She leaned into his touch. "When?" she asked breathlessly.

"When you're ripe," he repeated, brushing his lips along her neck with a purr.

"Oh," she sighed. "When is that?"

He moved up to her ear. "When I watch you eat a peach," he whispered.

"When?" Tigress asked once more, but she was no longer asking it in the cozy interior of Chorch-Gom, she was asking it out loud, into cold air and sun, her breath a white puff floating up into Tai Lung's face.

"When what?" he asked. He looked haggard. He coughed wetly, pressing his fist to his lips. Red stripes were dyed into the fur at the corners of his lips, flowing down over his chin.

"When are you going to woo me?" she asked, not quite aware that she was now awake and had been dreaming.

Tai Lung stopped in his tracks and gave her an incredulous look. "When do you want me to woo you?"

Tigress's eyes widened as she fully realized she was awake. She quickly looked away. "I – I don't want you to woo me."

He chuckled. "Right," he said. "In any case, you're hardly fit to be wooed at the moment." He reached behind him for the canteen secured on the side of the pack. "You've been asleep a long time, you must drink some water."

Tigress winced. Now that she was awake the pain began to wake too. But she tilted her head questioningly at Tai Lung anyway.

"Why?" she asked.

He unscrewed the cap of the canteen and held it to her lips so she could drink.

"Why what?"

She swallowed. The water felt wonderfully cool. She was awfully hot, she realized. Feverish.

"Why do you want to woo me?"

He seemed taken aback by her frankness. "I - I mean - I'd have to be a fool not to. I cant believe some idiot hasn't swept you off your feet and married you already. Who lets a fish that big just swim by? Not me."

Tigress considered this. "You want to woo because I'm a fish?"

He smiled. "Oh yes." he coughed. Cleared his throat. "You, madam, are a very big fish."

"And what happens when you've caught me? String me up, take me back to Shifu as a prize?" she chuckled ruefully. "What a spectacular catch I'd make. You not only broke out of the prison he sent you to, but you 'wooed' his best student on your way home." She paused, wincing. "His second best student, anyway."

A look of guilt crossed Tai Lung's face. He didn't reply for a long time. Tigress's heart sank, and sank deeper. Had she caught him out?

He took a deep breath. "I – uh - " he began, and suddenly started to hack. "I - " he started again, but then endured another bout of hacking. He turned and spit blood into the snow.

"Tai Lung," Tigress said, concerned.

"It was that at first," he said quickly, wiping his mouth. "I - I will admit to that. I figured if you were anything like me – if you were anything like a lot of kung-fu students I knew over the years – you had a thin veneer of propriety over a desperate … need. I thought, at first, you'd be easy to … to convince. I'd have my fun and find some solution to you afterward. But you're not like me. You're not like anyone I've ever met. Your loyalty and beauty and strength go clear to the bone. You're not just some… some good time girl."

Tigress gave a rueful little chuckle. "No," she said. "I'm pretty much the opposite of a good time girl." She winced in pain. "I am a bad time girl."

"You're a little savage," Tai Lung said, laughing sotfly. "And perfect kung-fu princess. If I've stopped thinking of you for all of forty five seconds in the past few weeks it's news to me. I wake up, Tigress, I go to sleep, Tigress. Really, it's not good." he said. "Not tactical at all."

She squinted up at him. "But...but why?"

He made an exasperated sound. Coughed. "I don't know, Tigress. Why does the sun rise? Why does the rain fall? It just does. And god knows you can't fight the weather." He took a deep breath and shook his head. "The weather just … does what it wants."

Tigress accepted this, at least for the moment. The pain was quickly throbbing up into agony and would soon be all she could focus on. She sucked in air through her teeth and writhed.

"You need more medicine," Tai Lung said. "Here, I have it here."

He held the vinegar-scented vial up to her lips and poured. She got a mouthful, but after that nothing, even though it stayed tipped in the air. Tai Lung shook the bottle.

She swallowed. "Was – was that the last of it?"

Tai Lung grimaced. "Yes," he said. He straightened up. Hacked. Began walking faster.

"You should have had some," she said.

"No I should not have. I will be fine. It's not as bad as it looks," he said. "Rest. You need your strength. We'll be back to the road soon, where there will be a doctor who can cure you. Lots and lots of doctors, and a fire and a comfortable bed, and all the food you can eat when you're feeling better."

She closed her eyes and smiled grimly. "We have a luxury yurt waiting for us."

"Top shelf everything. The best prizefighting money can buy."

"Sounds lovely," she said, trying to push away the heat of her fever, and the knowledge that this meant her wound was likely infected and she didn't have long. That, and the last of the Yanhusuo being gone, meant that this was just the beginning of her painful end.

But that was not now. It was not yet.

"Tai Lung," she said. "Give me your hand."

He did as she asked. She took it between hers. It was stiff and frozen, the pads like ice.

"So cold," she whispered.

"Thank you, that's better," Tai Lung said. "You make everything better, Tigress. And everything will be better soon."

"Do you promise?" she asked sleepily. The sun had moved behind Tai Lung's head, casting her in his shadow. With the glare out of her face it would be easier to rest. She closed her eyes.

He put his other hand on top of her head. "I promise."

"I believe you," Tigress lied, closing her eyes. "I believe you."

o

There was a dreamless sleep. When she woke it was dark, and the Yanhusuo had worn off. Tai Lung trudged through the snow, obviously exhausted, but she knew he would only stop when he could no longer move. Her concern for him drifted away as the pain rose- and as there was nothing anymore to take it away, it would only continue to get worse.

Something rose in her. A retching. She tried to push herself away from Tai Lung, to tip her head over the side of the sling.

"You're awake!" he exclaimed. "What – what are you doing?"

She got her head over the edge of the fabric and vomited all over his feet.

"Oh," he said. "Well. Thanks for that."

"Sorry," she gasped.

"It's okay," he said, shuffling his feet in the snow. "My feet didn't have nearly enough puke on them."

"Sorry," she repeated.

"It's just water, Tigress. It's fine."

"It's just water?' she asked deliriously. "Water from the moon pool?"

"Um," Tai Lung replied.

"You can't swim in the moon pool," she said. "Shifu – Shifu will yell at you."

"You swam in the moon pool?" he asked, aghast.

Tigress considered this. She genuinely wasn't sure. "No?"

"I hope not. You're damn right he'd yell at you. He'd throw you down the stairs into the village. And you'd deserve it."

"I deserve it," Tigress said, wincing, the agony growing. "I deserve it."

"What? Tigress - ?"

She writhed in the sling like a worm. "Put me down," she said.

"I can't put you down right now. There's nowhere to put you. We'll find a – a cave or- or something. Somewhere dry. I'll put you down then."

"The Yanhusuo – it's – it's still gone?"

His mouth made a flat line. He nodded.

She groaned.

"Here, um – we'll – we'll sing. Did Shifu ever take you to the puppet show in the village?"

"Puppet - show?"

"Yes, every year around the Winter Feast, there was that funny little puppet show. Some rabbit used to put it on for the village kids. Do you remember? Did Shifu ever take you?"

"No," she said.

"No?" Tai Lung asked. "That's the kid event of the year. Jerk."

"We went … at the school," she said. "They did it at the school."

"Oh!" he said, brightening. "Then – then you remember the song about pickles."

She peered up at him.

"Pickles!" he sang. "Pretty little pickles, pickles in a jar, pickles in the stars! Pickles on your fingers and toooooes – remember?"

"N – noo?" Tigress said, her voice cracking with pain.

"Pickles on your ribbons and bows," he sang. "Pickles in your bed, pickles in your head, pickles all up your nooooose."

"That's – that's not a real song."

She moaned and bent her body around some new stabbing pain in her side. Everything's going to hell, she thought.

"It's a real song! You don't remember?" He took a sudden deep breath and started hacking again. "It's – it's a song. I swear it's a song. It's - " he tried to continue but he started hacking more. The shaking made her agony worse.

"Put me down," she moaned. "Please."

"Can't put you down now, Tigress. Just -pickles. Listen to the pickle song. We'll keep singing the pickle song."

He kept singing the pickle song. He was exhausted, and out of breath, and it sounded terrible. She pressed her ear to his chest, the deep rumble of his voice soothing nonetheless. She closed her eyes tight.

Hours passed, or what felt like hours. The pain grew so pointlessly extreme that after trying not to think about, trying to breathe through it, trying to meditate out of it, trying to negotiate with it, trying to appease it, and giving in to it only to fight it again, Tigress finally became infuriated with it.

Yes, I understand, I am in mortal danger! I know! I'm doing what I can! You can stop telling me now! Stop! Just stop! Just stop! Just STOP! Just STOP STOP STOP STOP -

"We're stopped! We're stopped!" Tai Lung panted. "Tigress, quit screaming!"

She didn't even know she had been. She caught her breath. "Put me down," she croaked, her throat raw.

"What? No, Tigress. You'll just be wet and cold."

She writhed and kicked. "I can't do this anymore. I can't do it. Put me down. Put me down, please." She stopped. Her eyes widened. "Wait." She pointed at Tai Lung. "You."

"Me?"

"Put me to sleep. You – you made me sleepy before. In the forest."

He shook his head. "I would, but you have a tree going right through one of the points I'd have to hit."

"Then – then -total numbness. The – the shell. Do – do what the shell did."

Tai Lung shook his head, bewildered. "That takes a whole shell. I don't have enough fingers to pause your chi."

"Just the one in between the shoulders. The- the dreams. The numb – dreams."

"The one that kills you?"

"No no, just the dreams. Send me into dreams."

He considered it a moment, then shook his head. "It's ... it's too precise. Change the pressure the smallest amount and … and….. did - did you try Shifu's mind exercises?"

"This pain," she growled, "takes Shifu's mind exercises and fucks them in the ass."

Tai Lung's eyes went wide. He blinked rapidly, shocked at her profanity. She didn't care about propriety anymore. Propriety was for the China, for the Jade Palace, and she was in Mongolia. She was burning up, burning alive with fever, red hot fish hooks tearing at her flesh, her leg twisted in a sailor's knot, her insides beginning to gurgle and cramp and scream.

"We'll just – we'll just sing," Tai Lung said weakly. "Pickles – pickles on your - "

"Fuck singing," she spat. "Fuck. Singing. Help me."

"Tigress, I can't – I can't .. help ... this," he said as though the admission were painful to him. But she didn't care. It only enraged her.

"I thought you could do anything," she hissed.

"W -what?"

"I thought you were the Dragon Warrior!" she cried. "What's a pressure point to the Dragon Warrior? The Dragon Warrior can't – can't steady his finger? Hm? Is that a – a Dragon Warrior? Does that sound like limitless power to you?" she raged.

"Tigress - " he said, looking bewildered enough to break her heart had she not been in such agony. It merely made her angrier.

"Don't you hold out on me you – you bastard!" she spit. "You bastard! You rat. Fucking. BASTARD!"

"Tigress," he said again, and the way he said it - with no hint of anger, only sadness – finally broke her.

She moaned and wept.

He put his hand on her head. They were lowering to the ground.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered. "I'm sorry. Tai Lung – I'm – I'm sorry."

He was kneeling now. His hand crept up her back.

"I will try," he said softly. "I will try, but you must be very still. Very still, Tigress. I must - meditate for a moment. Summon everything in me. Everything I have. And you must be still. Can you do that?"

She reached up and touched his face. "Yes. Thank you," she gasped through tears. "Thank you."

He grimaced, then pressed the backs of her fingers to his lips for a long moment, his eyes closed. He laid her hand on her chest and went silent, breathing steadily. Tigress held her breath as his finger pressed into her back – slowly, slowly. She shut her eyes in anticipation of dreams, but found herself quite suddenly launched upwards, straight into the sky like a rocket. She would have screamed but she had no voice, and no way or orienting herself in space. One moment she was lying in the sling and the next she was flying with such a tremendous sense of freedom – and no pain.

He did it! She thought, overjoyed. She steadied in midair. He really did it!

She turned to him – turned over, really, to look down at him. A thin white cord like a ribbon drifted down from her chest to where he knelt in the snow, down to the strange mass in his arms. She looked closer. Something wasn't right. She peeked over his shoulder. The strange mass was her, head back, mouth open, eyes wide.

And Tai Lung was screaming.

"NO!" he wailed. "Tigress!? Tigress, no! Tigress?" he cried, shaking her. "Tigress no – no, no, no, Tigress, no!" he tipped his head back and howled, clutching her to his chest. "No! Oh, Tigress, oh god," he whimpered. "Tigress – no – I'm so sorry," he sobbed, rocking her back and forth. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."

Tai Lung? Tigress asked. I'm right here!

But he did not see her, could not hear her. He kept rocking her hollow body back and forth, wailing his apologies out over the flat Mongolian plane.

Well," came a voice, right in her ear. She turned to see a little white lizard with golden eyes sitting on her shoulder, smoking a tiny pipe and looking smug. "You did say you wanted remorse."

o


	12. 12

W-what?

But the god had vanished. She spun in the air, fighting weightlessness. By god, she was entirely out of her body! Oogway would have been ecstatic! Why this was a state only the greatest of yogis could achieve, and she – she -

Her eyes fell on the white ribbon that connected her to her body, and the great spotted hulk that held it, rocking back and forth with sobs.

I'm dead, she realized. He killed me.

Somehow she was not terribly perturbed by this fact. That body had been so full of pain – in its flesh, it its heart. She was curiously glad to be rid of it.

"No," Tai Lung whimpered. "No no no."

She slowly sank to the ground next to him.

Tai Lung….

A sweet warm light hit her back. She felt a gentle tugging upwards, as though gravity was softly reversing itself. She took hold of the ribbon – white and cool and wispy as a breath – and used it to hold herself to the ground at Tai Lung's side.

"I didn't – I didn't mean to - ," he whispered - not to her, but to the thing that once contained her. "Please wake up."

Tai Lung, she said, reaching for him. I was going to die anyway.

She touched his shoulder. Her hand passed right through him.

"Please," he said again.

At least it was painless this way …

He shook her empty body. Its hand flopped limply into the snow.

"PLEASE!" he shouted, baring his teeth into her blank face, as though he might frighten her back to life. Tai Lung made a sound she didn't think him capable of making, small and innocent and full of pain. The sound a heart makes when it is crushed.

He immediately started hacking, great heaving hacks that brought up blood. He fell forward on his hands, lost his balance and nearly fell on her body. He tore the sling off and placed her gently in the snow, bringing up more blood. He took a few deep, gurgling breaths and went limp, then slowly began to lie down.

No!

She reached for him but her touch was ineffectual, immaterial. The gentle warm upwards tug grew more insistent. She glanced over her shoulder in annoyance and gasped.

Above her was the whitest, purest, most golden light she could imagine, a light made entirely of love. The rays crossed her face, each soft as a feather. She heard a delightful singing, the voice sweet as the mother she had never known. When the notes hit her heart her every earthly concern began to melt away like warm honey. She reached her other hand up towards the light and felt it reach back, eagerly awaiting her.

"Tigress," Tai Lung gasped.

She turned.

He nuzzled close to her body and pressed his mouth to her limp ear, whispering a grief-stricken, raspy secret.

"Tigress - I have a one … I have a one time … offer." He coughed. "If you wake up – if you wake up right now – when we return to the Jade Palace, I'll - I'll take the Dragon Scroll and throw it in the river, unread."

Tigress was struck speechless.

He gently lifted his finger to stroke her face. "That's what you would want, isn't -isn't it - ?" His voice strangled as he started coughing – not hacking this time, only weak, bleeding coughs. He pressed his hand to his chest and groaned softly, his eyes fluttering shut.

She could feel his heart slowing. He would be with her soon, she realized. And that …

...she glanced back at the beautiful light...

...that might not be so bad.

The Spirit Realm was a better realm than this one, with its agonies and sorrows and freezing cold. There they would be free. Their pasts, so heavy with betrayals and loyalties, would no longer stand between them. She would take Tai Lung's hand and float off with him into soft weightlessness, without masters and scrolls and palaces, without snow and pain, where everything was golden and there was nothing but love.

She was ready. She'd said her goodbyes to this world as she lay dying in his arms.

He moaned. Along with the sun the wind began to rise, slicing through his fur. She reached out to scratch his head, to soothe his final nightmare, but he could not feel her touch. She leaned close to his ear.

Let go, Tai Lung, she whispered to him. You've suffered enough. Let go of this life and walk into eternity with me. We'll explore it together, you and I.

Tai Lung shuddered. Blood seeped from his mouth, and he winced in pain. She so wished she could touch him, could somehow let him know that she was there. To give him some comfort during this cold and lonesome end.

It will be over soon, she whispered. Relax.

There was movement in the corner of her eye. Tigress flinched in alarm. Suddenly all around them appeared oily black things.

She leapt to her feet.

They crawled up out of the ground, pushing themselves towards Tai Lung with emaciated, greedy arms, grasping for him with clawed fingers and snarling, fanged mouths Tigress all at once knew – abruptly, as though the information had just dropped itself into her mind - that the Light was not the only place in the Spirit Realm. There were other places, mazes of despair and agony where tortured souls could lose themselves for eons. And should Tai Lung die now, that was where he was headed - into the Dark, where she could not follow.

A slimy thing swept at Tai Lung with needle-like claws.

No, she said, blocking it. You cannot have him.

But there were too many to block on her own. She opened her hand. Without knowing how she knew to do it, from the depths of her heart she summoned a blade of light. She used it to slice away the grasping hand, the knifelike teeth. The creatures shrieked as their arms and heads sizzled and dropped off into the snow. She leapt in a circle around him, slicing the creatures like stuffed dummies in the training hall, but the more she dispatched the more sprung up out of the ground. Soon they would be in numbers she could not possibly overcome. She raised the blade to the Light, and opened herself to receive.

Please, she said, help me.

An overwhelming power flowed down through her. She leapt faster now, far faster than she ever had in life, flipping and spinning her blade in a whirling circle of golden light, keeping the creatures at bay. They fell rapidly, dissolving back into the ground. Nevertheless they kept coming, gradually gaining on the dying Tai Lung, ready to tear his soul to shreds and scatter it in the farthest caves of darkness.

I will not allow it! Tigress cried, but the things did not stop advancing. She cleared as much of a circle as she could before running back to Tai Lung and dropping to her knees at his side.

Tai Lung, she pleaded. I take it back. Don't let go. You have to stay alive. You can't die now, you can't let them take you!

He pressed his forehead into her old body's neck, moaning softly.

Tai Lung, no! No no no! She fussed over him, touching him, but her hands went clear through his body. Don't give up! You can't give up now, Tai Lung, please! She crouched down next to him, putting her hands on his chest. A warrior never gives up, she whispered. Remember?

But it was no use. His crackling breaths came slower. Blood dribbled from his mouth. Her hands sank through his chest – and to her surprise, felt something. Like a ball of energy, warm and pulsing and electric and precious. His heart, she suddenly knew. The energy of his heart. She may not be able to touch his earthly body but she could touch this –

\- because a part of it was hers.

Oh, she breathed, cupping it in her hands like a baby bird.

The creatures paused in their advance. Tai Lung's eyes opened. He turned towards her – not her body, her. He tilted his head, blinking in confusion, squinting as though seeing something very bright.

Get up, she commanded. You must get up now.

He did not follow her direction, only looked confused. All around them the creatures were beginning to close in once more. There wasn't much time.

Get up! She urged. Fight it, Tai Lung! Fight!

He moaned and closed his eyes.

With a sudden knowing she bowed, and came to a rest with her forehead touching the energy of his heart. She thought of his compassion towards the dying wolf. Of all the times he'd tolerated her snideness, her angst. His dancer-like beauty as he trained in the snow. Grinning drunkenly up at her and asking her to dance with him, smiling at her from between the fringes of a nightgown he wore on his head to make her laugh, smiling at her in the corner of her eye when he thought she wasn't looking. How he'd taken the first peach he'd seen in twenty years and placed it by her foot as an offering. The tenderness with which he'd treated her suffering as he carried her through hell.

The warmth of his hand in hers, when he named her an angel.

She smiled gently. Relaxed.

It's time to get up now, my love, she said, sweet as mother to a sleeping child.

He gasped. His eyes opened.

She slid her hands around his heart and held it close.

Darling, it's not your time. I am with you. You are strong. But you are in danger and you must get up.

He took a deep breath.

Good, she said. Take another.

He obeyed, coughing a bit, awakening. His gaze settled on her body. With agony in his eyes he stroked the backs of his fingers along the white ruff of her cheek.

"Lady Flying Tigress," he whispered.

Yes! she said, delighted. Yes, it's me! Little savage! I'm here with you!

Confused, he rose up on his elbows, squinting against the sun. He rolled on his side and haltingly crawled to his knees, panting with effort. She concentrated on filling his lungs with light. The more he breathed the more the oily creatures were forced to retreat, climbing back down into the ground. Tigress cried out in happiness, a happiness that transferred to Tai Lung in the form of an abrupt and unprovoked laugh.

Yes! Tigress cried. Yes yes yes! Tai Lung, you've defeated them! Now you must get up. You must keep going.

Tai Lung obeyed, slowly beginning to gather their things. But, Tigress realized, where would he go? He was still very injured, and there was no help for miles. They may have evaded the creatures for now, but even with her help his body would not hold out all the way back to the trading road. It would take a miracle to save him.

She rose from his chest and turned her face to the Light.

Show me the way! She demanded. Light of all wisdom, show me the way!

There was a voice in her ear.

"You do realize you've just ordered the very Heavens themselves to do your bidding?" came the dragon god's voice, as though impressed at her boldness.

Yes and so be it, she replied. I am doing their work.

She felt the god back away, as though this were something even it could not interfere with. The very Light itself moved in the sky, falling due east, where suddenly there stood a ridge between two peaks that had not been there before. She could see the flags from the tops of yurts. Behind those white clouds billowed up into the sky. As she watched a person in robes came up over the ridge and began walking along it.

There! Tigress urged Tai Lung. Look there!

But where was there? How could this ridge and those yurts appear from nothing?

"There is not here," the dragon's voice came again. "And here is not there."

What do you mean?

"Only those that have been kissed by a god can see that place, and even I cannot deny Heaven it's favor," it said, and she felt a brief cool peck on her cheek. "Nor my own. Now go on, my brave little cabbage. Show him the way."

She bowed in thanks, then quickly passed her hands through Tai Lung's eyes. He squinted and blinked, then turned east to see the person walking the ridge. His jaw dropped in amazement. He rubbed his eyes and leaned forward a bit, baffled.

Another person joined the first and they turned away, making to go back down to their village.

"Wait," Tai Lung croaked. "Wait!"

But they did not stop. They could not hear him. He started hacking again, waving his arm flimsily over his head. "Wait!"

Tigress focused and filled his lungs with light once more. He took a deep breath.

"WAIT!" he shouted, his voice booming out over the snowy valley. He fell onto his elbows with the force of it. But it worked - he'd been spotted. The two on the ridge shouted behind them for help and came running down towards him, leaving little trails of footprints in the undisturbed snow.

Tai Lung clutched his chest and panted, wincing. He moaned and lay down.

You did it, Tai Lung! You did it, my love! Tigress cried. A warrior never gives up!

He reached his hand back to clumsily cover her cold limp one.

"A warrior ... never gives up," he agreed, and fell asleep in the snow.


	13. Chapter 13

They were pandas.

Of course they were pandas.

Pandas, back at the Jade Palace claiming the Dragon Scroll, and now out here in the snow-packed wastes of Mongolia, in a miraculous valley between two peaks. Tai Lung struggled up the ridge carrying her limp body, accompanied by two bustling young females who were too short to offer anything in the way of support, but had more than enough to give in watchfulness and fussing. She watched one touch her limp wrist and shake her head softly at the other.  
As they reached the lip of the ridge a figure momentarily blocked the light. A black and white hand reached out to Tai Lung, offering help over the last of the climb. Before him stood an old, stout panda, his fur greying. One eye was green, the other was a convex vacancy that had healed over into gnarled, fleshy bumps, part of a long scar that slashed diagonally across his face. 

As he held his hand out to Tai Lung the panda's good eye flicked upwards.

My god, Tigress realized, he's looking right at me.

The panda smirked and turned his attention back to Tai Lung, who had taken his hand and allowed himself to be helped. The panda wordlessly held out his hands, offering to carry Tigress’s body.

Tai Lung’s mouth made a flat line. He shook his head.

The panda reached for her again. Tai Lung growled. The growl turned to a soft whimper as the panda placed a firm hand on Tai Lung's shoulder. Tai Lung leaned tiredly into the contact, bowing his head. His shoulders went limp. Looking at the ground, he slowly removed the sling and transferred her body into the waiting arms of the scarred panda. 

The two females took Tai Lung by the hands and lead him down the ridge to series of large yurts, behind which great columns of white steam billowed into the sky. The panda stayed behind a moment and took Tigress’s blank face by the chin, looking intently at her half drooping eyes. He glanced up at her spirit once more.

You can see me, she said.

Yes, he said, pointing at his missing eye. I got into a bar fight with a dragon god. He took my eye. Now I see in two worlds.

She nodded. We too have met this god.

Clearly, he replied. He adjusted her body in his arms and examined it once more, turned her head this way and that as though searching for something. Not finding it, he pressed his ear to her neck, shut his eyes, and listened.

What are you doing? 

He didn’t respond. After a moment he smiled. He opened his eye and turned towards the village.

Follow me.

 

o

 

Tai Lung looked as though he would be sobbing if he had the energy to sob. Instead he sat on the floor as five brightly dressed female pandas tended to him, his face limp with a blank despair. He weakly rose his arm in objection as the scarred panda brought Tigress’s body into the yurt and laid it down on a long flat cushion. With a quick word and a click in his throat the panda summoned three others, whispering commands in hushed Mongolian. They began arranging her body, straightening her spine and limbs. One carefully removed her boot to reveal a shattered ankle, the foot twisted inward. The other opened her coat and began to unbutton her vest.

“Leave her alone!” Tai Lung demanded, and gave a great sagging lunge towards them. The old panda moved across the yurt far faster than he should be able. He merely blocked Tai Lung’s way, knowing the snow leopard was far too exhausted and injured to put up a real fight. 

Tai Lung fell to his knees and one hand. “Leave her alone,” he wheezed, grimacing. He tugged weakly at the panda’s coat. “Leave … leave her be. I will ...I will hold her vigil. I will hang the white banner above the door. I will … I will dig her grave,” he choked, groaning in pain. “I will ... bury … her. Ah!” 

He grimaced, pressing the heel of his hand to his chest. 

In one elegant move the panda leaned down to pick Tai Lung up beneath his arms. Tai Lung did not fight as he was gently pushed onto his back. 

“Stay there,” the panda commanded. 

The panda nurses hesitantly knelt at Tai Lung’s side to continue tending to him. He shut his eyes. 

The scarred panda gestured to Tigress’s body. “Your wife?”

Tai Lung’s face screwed up in pain. He grit his teeth and shook his head. 

Tell him I’m here, Tigress demanded.

The panda glanced up at her over his shoulder, chastising her with his eyes the same way Shifu did when she said something insolent. 

Tell him yourself, he replied, and turned back towards her body. 

Tigress remained with Tai Lung for a moment, watching over him. Only when one of the nurses, an elderly woman, took a moment to stroke his head and whisper softly to him did Tigress turn to see what the scarred panda was up to.  
She was met with the sight of her own naked form being folded up in rough white linen, the branch removed from her shoulder and the wound still open, but clean. Her wrecked ankle was set straight between two sturdy branches. Once she was wrapped in cloth like a baby the scarred panda gently lifted her and walked out of the yurt.

“What are you doing with her?” Tai Lung demanded, coughing. 

The panda did not heed him. Tai Lung struggled to get to his feet. The panda nurses encouraged him to lie back down, pressing on his shoulders, but they were no match for his strength even in a diminished state. With a growl he stumbled out of the yurt and followed them.

Where are we going? She asked the panda.

He didn’t reply, but he was headed towards what Tigress realized was a hot spring, the source of all the steam billowing above the yurt village. 

“Where are you taking her!?” Tai Lung demanded. He stalked the panda down, followed by a gaggle of worried looking nurses chattering at him in Mongolian. The panda turned suddenly, his chin high, and offered her body to Tai Lung to bear.

“Carry her if you must,” the panda said, “but follow me.”

 

o

 

“Put her in the water,” the panda commanded. 

They’d gathered at one end of the steaming pool. Someone handed the panda a long staff made of gold, silver, and copper, smelted with complicated swirls, runes, and omens. But Tai Lung did not hear the panda’s order. He simply held her close, bereft, stroking her face.

“Put her in the water, leopard,” the panda commanded once more.

“In – in there?” Tai Lung asked, looking skeptically at the pool. “Why?”

“Do you want her back or not?”

Tai Lung blinked. “Want her back?”

“Yes. Do you?”

"Do I what?"

The panda rolled his eye. “Do you want her back?”

“Of course I want her back! But if you haven’t noticed she’s dead.”

The panda ignored this. He looked up at Tigress’s spirit, floating above her body.

“And do you wish to return?” he asked. “Or does the song of the Spirit Realm beckon you?”

Tigress glanced up at the heavens above, shining with golden light and a feathery warmth that threatened to melt her heart. But a song?

I hear no song.

He nodded. “Your business here is unfinished.”

I must protect him, she said. He cannot die while he is still in danger of being taken by those … those things.

The panda inhaled sharply, glancing at Tai Lung. “I see,” he said.

“Who are you talking to?” Tai Lung growled.

“Your wife,” the panda replied casually. 

“You’re -” Tai Lung asked with a hush, following the panda’s eyes to where she hovered, but seeing nothing. “You’re talking to Tigress?”

“She says she must protect you, and she has good reason. If you wish to help her in this quest you must put her in the water as I asked. Do it!” the panda ordered, and Tai Lung, bewildered, set her body down on a gentle incline of smooth stone. Two of the female pandas, stripped down to their underclothes and shivering, got into the water on either side of her pulled her in up to her breastbone.

And how exactly do you plan to bring me back? Tigress asked.

My eye allows me to see between worlds, he said. And what I can see I can bring here, should I choose.

What do I need to do?

You’ll know it when you see it, the panda replied.

The two female pandas climbed out of the water. Their leader motioned for everyone to stand back, shut his eyes, and began to spin the staff in the air. As he spun it it made a golden spiral that turned faster and faster, like a whirlpool gradually gaining speed. As it grew larger and larger Tigress could feel it pulling at her. His missing eye glowing white with power, the panda turned the staff in the air, and with one great motion slammed the end of it to her chest hard enough to break her sternum.  
Tai Lung cried out in protest against further damage being done to her body, but nothing could stop the process the panda had begun. The tunnel of light pulled at her, and with one last look at the triumphant heavens spinning above her, Tigress allowed herself to fall into it, to become small, to travel at the speed of light down through the enchanted metal staff. Her body arched. With a burst of electricity that spread out over the surface of the pool, Tigress was back in her body.

She gasped, her aching lungs filling with air, and let out a cry so agonized and pure that it may as well have been that of a newborn. Each nerve in her body sprang back to sensation, thick and stinging, the pain in her ankle and shoulder and chest agonizing. Five sets of furry black hands reached out to settle her. 

She looked up in confusion, squinting against the overcast sky. The panda smiled down at her, and Tai Lung’s eyes were with with bewilderment, his mouth bobbing with unsaid words.

Tigress smiled up at him.

“I’m here,” she gasped, and passed out.


	14. Chapter 14

"There we are…."

"Slowly," she said. "Slowly please."

Tai Lung glanced up from his hands. One was on her upper back, the other on her rump.

"Slowly," he repeated, lifting her. He'd already done an admirable job of shaking out her blankets and building some brightly colored cushions up to make a support for her back. It was her first time sitting up since she'd awoken three days ago, and Tai Lung seemed determined to make an event of it.

She'd been dreaming the same dream, over and over: she had fallen down an ice ravine and had to slowly climb her way back up. Sometimes she had an ice axe and sometimes she didn't, sometimes her feet and hands gripped perfectly but other times it was as though she couldn't feel them at all and she remained at the bottom, dejected.

This time was different in that a bit of sun peeked through the top of the crevice and hit her face, warming her. As she rose to the top - finally, the top, after all this time – there was a persistent metallic tick-tick-tick that grew louder. And then soft voices, and – oh! - the heady smell of a rich broth. She climbed faster, growing eager for her reward of food, and company, and whatever was ticking.

Her eyes opened heavy. Her surrounds were fuzzy but slowly resolved themselves. She was in a yurt. There was a cooking pot boiling away over a small kiln. On the other side of that sat Tai Lung. He was propped up on a stack of cushions, his face tired and his breathing shallow. A stinking herbal poultice was bandaged to his chest. He watched the hands of the old panda matron sitting next to him as she knit with thick purple wool, her metal needles ticking.

"How are you doing that?" he muttered. He tilted his head. "How does that even...work?" He lifted his hand, index finger extended, tracing the motion of the string between the needles.

Tigress smiled.

The matron stood and shook out her project, then held it to Tai Lung's chest.

"Purple!" she exclaimed proudly, with a rich Mongolian accent that indicated this may be the only Chinese word she knew.

"Yes, purple. Thank you. Thank you, grandma," he replied, coughing into his fist.

She patted his shoulder.

"Purple," she sympathized.

"Tigress," Tai Lung said, his eyes going wide. It was as though his limp face and weakened body were hit with a jolt of life. He rose and came towards her, coughing. "Tigress, you're awake!"

And she'd fallen right back asleep. She's spent the majority of her time this way, bobbing in and out of consciousness like a child's toy in a choppy ocean. But this morning she'd awoken and stayed awake. The panda matron brought broth, of which she drank an entire mug of in one go, after which she felt she should sit up.

Tai Lung set her against the cushions. "Good?"

"Good," she said.

"No bandages loose?"

She checked her shoulder and chest. "They are secure."

"Good." He gently set her ankle on a small stack of pillows then readjusted her blankets, pulling them up about her waist and a softer one over her shoulders. He reached for the kettle simmering away over a small kiln and poured her a cup of tea, which he placed on a bamboo tray at her side. Next to it was a small bottle of yanhusou, which he uncorked and added liberally.

"And there we are," he said, handing it to her. "Do you need anything else?"

"That will do," she said, taking a sip of the vinegary tea. Normally the mix would have tasted awful, but the tart bitterness of the medicine had grown on her – which was good, because these days both she and Tai Lung consumed a lot of it.

He was, to her surprise, a quite capable nurse despite being injured himself. He was always by her side. She might wake briefly in the middle of the night to see his golden eyes glowing like the moon, his chin in hand, watching her, brows furrowed.

"Tigress?" he whispered into the dark.

She swallowed but she couldn't speak. Could barely keep her eyes open. She summoned all the strength she could and reached for him, her fingers landing on his forearm. He took her hand in both of his, leaning towards her.

"What is it?" he whispered. "What do you need?"

"Mmh," she said, all she could manage. As sleep curled up to claim her he pressed her hand urgently to his lips. She lifted her finger to affectionately brush across his chin. He sighed. She fell asleep.

Had he slept at all, she wondered? Though attentive to her every need, ensuring she was warm and comfortable at all times, he did so looking haunted. On a few instances she heard him embroiled in tense conversation with the one-eyed panda, whom she learned was named Bataan. She hoped Tai Lung was not giving Bataan trouble. He and his village had been so kind.

Though she had not left the yurt – a warm and brightly colored space piled with sweet smelling cushions, faded children's drawings scrawled on the canvas walls, with a tea kettle permanently on the boil – she could tell that the village was happy and homey in a way no other place in Mongolia had yet been. She heard singing and laughter and music from outside. There was no shortage of curious and concerned villagers bringing with them food and drink – and one time, as Tai Lung related to her, a newborn infant panda.

"I'm not sure what gave her the idea to bring her baby to you," Tai Lung said, chuckling. "She said babies are good for women and laid it down right next to your head."

"And what happened?"

"Nothing. You stayed asleep. Nice thought, but this one only loves battle, I told her. Bring a freshly blooded dagger next time."

Tigress laughed. "Are you trying to make them terrified of me?"

"I doubt she understood. She wasn't frightened of you in the least, or me. Gave me the baby to hold, in fact."

"You held it?"

He nodded. The edge of his mouth curled in a reluctant smile. "Very small. Made funny little sounds. Held my finger tight."

She smiled and tilted her head. "I would have liked to see that."

"The panda cub?"

"No, you holding a panda cub."

Tai Lung grinned. "I'll hold one all day if it pleases you," he said. "Speaking of which is there anything else you need? Anything at all? Name it and it's yours."

"Thank you," she said. "I'm all set for the moment."

Tai Lung nodded, rose to his feet, and pushed aside the flap of the yurt to peer out. A lovely cold breeze swept in, along with the smells of cooking food and the laughter of children. It was a sunny day. A series of bright red kites danced in the sky.

"Looking for something?" she asked.

"Waiting for Bataan to get back. We're … working on something." He shook his head. "It can't be safe, the children flying those kites. Can be seen for miles. There's bloodthirsty Mongolian gangs roaming about but the villagers don't seem concerned in the least."

A memory bubbled up within her.

"Only those that have been kissed by a god can see this place," Tigress recalled.

Tai Lung turned. "What? Who told you that?"

"The dragon god."

"You spoke to him?" he asked urgently, eyes wide. "When?"

"He was there when I … when I died."

Tai Lung flinched. He let the flap of the yurt fall shut, blocking out the sun.

"You mean when I killed you," he said.

"Tai Lung," Tigress began. "Don't – you can't - "

"I do," Tai Lung said. "Tigress, I failed you. I will not - "

The tent flap flew open. Bataan deposited hismelf into the yurt, bringing with him the scent of spice and smoke and flowers.

"Ah, she's awake!" he said brightly.

"Yes!" Tai Lung said. "Looking bright and happy and ... and alive. Your village magic worked."

"Of course it worked," Bataan huffed.

Tigress suddenly recalled briefly fluttering awake to find herself surrounded by pandas, their palms facing her, and everything glowing with golden light.

"That's what that was," she said. "I thought it was a dream."

Bataan nodded. "We've done as much as we can with your chi. You'll heal naturally now, but it will be quick. Far quicker than it would be otherwise."

"You know how to manipulate chi?" she asked.

"He specializes in it," Tai Lung said. "Bataan here is very powerful. A skilled master sorcerer." A mixture of admiration and envy crossed Tai Lung's face, two emotions she'd never before seen spelled so plainly across it. "What a man might do for power such as his."

Bataan gave him a look out of the corner of his eye, a skeptiscm of Tai lung's lust for power she understood too well. She found herself warming to the panda. He gave a great sigh and sat down on a cushion.

"Powers such as mine," he muttered, and took out a pipe. "You say that as though I earned them."

Tai Lung blinked. "You didn't earn them?"

"No," the panda said, filling his pipe with something fragrant. "They were bestowed upon me by Fazhan-Long. The same god who brought you here to Mongolia." He held a stick into the fire and used it to light his pipe – the exact kind of pipe the dragon god smoked. Bataan looked at Tigress. "The same god who watched you suffer and die in the snow."

Tai Lung nodded. "I'd like a word with him," he grumbled. "A fierce word."

"As would I? I can't guarantee we'll get it," Bataan said. "Fazhan-Long does exactly as he wishes."

"He spoke to Tigress," Tai Lung said, jerking his chin towards her. "Before you revived her in the spring."

"Did he?" Bataan asked. He turned to her. "What did he say?"

"What are you trying to do?" Tigress asked.

"Communicate," Tai Lung replied. "Summon him."

"What? Why?"

"For a word," Tai Lung said.

"He's not the manager of a restaurant. You can't just send your food back and ask to see him."

"Yes you can," Bataan said. "You can ask all day and night. And I have been. With candles. And bells. And smoke. But that does not mean he will answer."

"You're his high priest, he must answer you," Tai Lung stated.

Bataan laughed. "I am in service to him, not the other way around."

"If he won't answer you why make you his priest at all?" Tai Lung snapped.

Bataan shrugged and took a drag off his pipe, then offered it to Tai Lung, who shook his head. "Not good for the lungs," he said, patting his chest.

"Oh, plenty good for the lungs," Bataan scolded. He took another drag. "The lungs," he muttered.

"And what will you do when you have this word? What will you say?" Tigress asked Tai Lung. "You can't bully a god." She turned to Bataan, who studiously blew smoke rings up into the rafters. "Surely you must know this."

"I do," Bataan said with a wry smile. "But I want to see him try."

ooo


	15. Chapter 15

Bataan was kind enough to offer the two of them his flask, but they both declined. As a result he drank for the three of them

"And I said – heh heh – I said to him -if that's the monkey, who's the chicken!?" The panda doubled over in laughter, slapping his knee.

Tai Lung glanced at Tigress. "Did you follow that at all?" he muttered.

"Hm?" Her eyes fluttered open. She pressed the heel of her hand to her sternum and winced. It ached there. "No. I was … resting."

"Do you need sleep?" he asked. "Want me to chuck out the drunk?"

She smiled and shook her head. "I like his stories."

Bataan wiped his eye and caught his breath. "Oh. Oh, amusing," he said.

Tai Lung turned. "Bataan," he said, "I was wondering - "

"How obtain more power?" Bataan said, waggling his fingers, eyes wide. "How see in the darkest caverns? How to transverse the realms?"

"I -"

"Well I won't tell you!" he exclaimed, then burst out laughing and slapping his knees once more.

Tai Lung frowned. "You're drunk, panda."

"He asked me how to bring the dead back to life, you know," Bataan said to Tigress.

"Who wouldn't want to know that!?" Tai Lung snapped.

"An instrument of death, that's who!"

Tai Lung bristled and began to growl.

Tigress put her hand on Tai Lung's shoulder. "Bataan, tell me," she said quickly, "How did your clan of pandas end up out here in the wastes, so far from China?"

Bataan blinked. Looked at his flask. "Well that's … that's a sad subject for a happy night, isn't it?"

"You don't -"

"Five hundred years ago," Bataan continued, "the pandas of my line lived high up in the mountains of China. It was a secret village. Pandas are gentle of nature and choose to protect themselves from the evils of this world. We were farmers. And scholars. But mostly, we were healers of chi. So, when two generals – two warlords – came to my ancestral home seeking aid, we of course took them in. It is our way," he said, gesturing to Tai Lung and Tigress. "It is said that one was injured and the other not," Bataan continued. "One, a yak, carried his companion, a tortoise, who had been mortally wounded."

"A tortoise?" Tai Lung asked, leaning forward. "Did you perchance catch his name?"

"I wasn't there. This was five hundred years ago," Bataan said. He took a swig off his flask and offered it to the two of them for the fifteenth time that night. They shook their heads.

"Fine," Tai Lung replied, rolling his eyes. "Was his name mentioned in legend?"

"Whose name?"

"The tortoise."

"Oh! Yes, uh...Ignay? Oov – Oovlay? Something weird like that. Name escapes me."

"Was it Oogway?" Tai Lung asked.

Bataan thoughtfully stroked his goatee. "Might have been. Might have been."

"He knows Oogway," Tai Lung said to Tigress.

"Lots of people know Oogway," Tigress said. "But I've never heard this legend, have you?"

Tai Lung shook his head.

"Please continue," she said.

"Anyway, your tortoise – Oogway - "

"He was a warlord, you know that, right?" Tai Lung asked Tigress.

"Yes, Tai Lung, I know that."

"Did horrible things."

"That I don't know."

"He did something so bad he made all these pandas run to Mongolia," he growled.

"Would you like to tell the story?" Bataan asked. He shook his flask at Tai Lung. "Seriously, take this."

Tai Lung reluctantly took the flask and Bataan continued.

"We healed the tortoise, of course, but his situation was similar to Tigress's here. Too much damage to ensure a speedy recovery, and it was the middle of winter. So I suppose they housed them in the storage yurt like we did with you," he said chuckling. "Though I suppose it wasn't a yurt, was it? Likely a proper house. Wood slat floors, paper walls. They might have even had their own – well it was a village, wasn't it, so it stands to reason they'd have had – well they might have had as much as entire house to themselves, those two! No no, of course they wouldn't stick two imperial generals next to the rice sacks. That doesn't make sense at all."

"Thank god we know their location," Tai Lung said. "Do you know what sort of beds they slept in?"

"Rolls on the floor, I imagine."

"No, I - " Tai Lung exhaled with frustration. "Just...what happened next?"

Bataan cleared his throat. "So, the generals – housed in houses and sleeping on bedrolls – stayed with my ancestors for a season. Everything was good, everything was happy from what I understand, making music, feasting, flying kites, feasting. Or at least that's what my people were likely doing. The generals, however, had other plans. They became more and more enamored of my people's powers. Of our ability to manipulate chi. They longed to learn, so … we taught them.

"They both took to it like ducks to water. Learned fast. Became powerful. The tortoise was responsible with this new power and wanted only to use it for good."

"But he used it for evil?" Tai Lung asked, leaning in.

"No, the other one did. The tortoise is the good guy," Bataan replied. He tilted his head. "Why are you so fixed on him being the bad guy?"

"Personal vendetta," Tai Lung huffed.

"Against someone who lived five hundred years ago?"

"He's a tortoise. He's still alive."

Bataan's eyes widened. "What?"

"No he isn't," Tigress said. "He died a few months ago."

"He died a few months ago?" Bataan asked. "Like months as in months? As in a small part of a year?"

"Yes, and good riddance to the bastard," Tai Lung snarled.

"Tai Lung!" Tigress scolded.

"I – wow," Bataan said. "That's crazy. In any case, he's the good guy in this legend. My sincerest apologies but the yak was the problem. He became obsessed with chi. Specifically with stealing it. He drained the life and will from half the village before his tortoise friend finally defeated him, banishing him to the Spirit Realm. But the damage was done. Half the villagers were gone, and the village itself destroyed in the battle.

"There was much debate on what was to be done. Half the survivors vowed to never practice the art of chi again, to forget about it entirely, so that the knowledge might never fall into the wrong hands. The other half wished to retain the knowledge, but flee, travel far away and hide themselves where they might never be found. Guess which half my ancestors were?

"And that has been our mission, for five hundred years. Practice chi. Retain the knowledge. Stay hidden. So of course, upon being chosen by Fahzan-Long, that is what I ensured. I shielded this village from all eyes, both in this world and the next. If one does not have the eyes to see – or has not been chosen by a god – he will merely walk across a flat plain not knowing anything is here at all." Bataan grinned. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Super cool," Tai Lung said dryly.

"And that is the story of how we came to be here," Bataan said. He yawned. "And I believe the next story will be of the great big panda who went to bed." He slipped his flask into his robe pocket and stood up. "Anything the two of you need before I take off?"

Tai Lung glanced at Tigress. She shook her head.

"Thank you for your stories, Bataan," she said softly. "And your kindness."

"Not at all," he replied. He smiled and bowed. "I'll put one more offering on Fahzan-Long's altar before I go to sleep. Just for you," he said, pointing at Tai Lung, "because I like ya. All right? Goodnight." And with that he pushed aside the yurt's flap and left, crunching through the snow back to his home.

"He likes you," Tigress said to Tai Lung.

"He does."

"I don't see why. You're quite impatient with him."

"I am no such thing!" Tai Lung huffed. "It's guy talk. Friendly guy talk."

"Do you like him?"

He considered this. "I … do. I think. I liked the wolf more. Bataan is quite flippant for someone with that much power."

"He takes after his god."

Tai Lung nodded. "Indeed."

They sat in comfortable silence for a while. Tai Lung put a pot over the kiln with dumplings and broth. Tigress leaned back and shut her eyes, rubbing the heel of her hand in slow circles on her sternum.

"That's causing you some pain tonight," he said. "I knew he did it too hard."

She gave a soft, grim laugh. "There's no 'too hard' when you're dead."

Tai Lung flinched.

"Tigress," he began, stirring the soup. "Would you … tell me something?"

"Hm?"

"When you died did it … did it hurt?"

He winced as he asked, as though expecting some sort of punishment.

Tigress frowned.

"No. It was painless. As advertised."

"Good," he said softly. "I'd hate to think I caused you any pain."

"The pain was before. You spared me pain."

He didn't reply. Shook his head.

"It was merciful," she insisted.

"It was stupid!" he erupted. "The whole thing was stupid. I never should have insisted we take a shortcut. It was reckless and nearly ended in … in…."

She shook her head and waved her hand. "It's in the past. Forgive yourself, Tai Lung."

He looked up at her sharply. "It will never be in the past. Not for me."

"You can't blame yourself forever."

"I can and will."

Tigress shut her eyes and sighed. "I forgive you, if it's any consolation."

"You shouldn't. If you were smart you would have stayed dead. Gone off into the Spirit Realm away from me, where I can no longer endanger you."

She shook her head. "Staying dead was not an option. It would be dishonorable. You saved my life, I had to save yours." She paused, considering her words. "I had to save your afterlife, in any case."

Tai Lung gave her a questioning look. "Save my afterlife?"

Tigress swallowed, feeling a trickle of fear for him even now. "Not every place in the Spirit Realm is nice and peaceful, as it turns out. You were dying. And had you died, you would have gone somewhere … very bad. There was an army of demons waiting to take you there. I fought them off with everything I had. I - "

She stuttered with the memory of holding his golden, fluttering heart in her hands.

"You battled an army of demons for my soul?" Tai Lung asked, the corner of his mouth ticking up into a smile.

"Yes," she said, her face growing hot.

His smile grew. "Why, Master Tigress, I didn't know you cared."

"I … I couldn't let that happen to a fellow warrior," she said, flustered. "They were going to rip your soul into a thousand pieces and drag it who knows where. You may have done some terrible things in your life, but I don't want that for you."

He tilted his head at her. "What do you want for me, Tigress?"

But before she had time to answer there was a pop, and a bright flash of white light, and Fahzan-Long stood before them.

O

"What, what, what!?" the god cried. He wore strange blue pants, wide in the leg, and held curious glowing sticks in his little hands. "That panda has been harassing me nonstop! What in six universes could be so damned important? What? You want a word? Well here I am, shoot. Go." He crossed his little arms and glared at Tai Lung.

The two of them looked at the tiny, angry god with wide-eyed shock.

"Oh, so sorry, did I interrupt your dinner?" he said, tapping his foot. "Shall I go back? I'd like to. Do you know where I was?"

Tai Lung and Tigress shook their heads.

"Underworld. Manchester. 1998."

They blinked.

"What is...Manchester?" Tigress asked.

Fazhan-Long rolled his eyes. "Is that what you brought me here to ask? You two are boring. I'll be going now."

"No!" Tai Lung said. "I - " he began, but stopped just as quickly.

"You what? Be quick about it, I have things to do." He did a bouncing dance, drawing strange pattern in the air with the glowing sticks.

Tai Lung blinked, seemingly at a loss for words.

"Thank you for coming," Tigress said quickly, and this seemed to jerk Tai Lung out of his oblivion. He gave a brief shake of his head and narrowed his eyes.

"I have a complaint," he growled.

"Oh do you, little mortal?"

Tai Lung, unperturbed, pointed at Tigress. "She died. And you did nothing."

"What would you like me to do?" Fahzan-Long scoffed. "You two have free will."

"Do we?"

"I warned her not to go wandering in the wastes but off you went anyway, like a pair of regular old idiots."

"You warned me?" Tigress asked. 'When did you warn me?"

There was another flash of light and suddenly a goat stood before them, the one with the golden eyes, who' shared his flask with Tigress after she and Tai Lung argued. "Remember me?" he asked. "From such hits as 'you go out there, you die?"

"I didn't know that was you!"

"You weren't meant to!"

"Do not speak to her!" Tai Lung roared, stepping between Tigress and the god. "You are not fit to speak to her!"

"I am not fit to speak to her?" Fahzan-Long asked, bemused.

"You tossed her life aside as though it were nothing! And you must answer for it!"

"Must I? In what way, Dragon Warrior?"

Tai Lung's jaw sagged. He had no answer.

"Didn't think of that, did you? You just summoned me from the sickest party in literal history to yell? Ugh. You two are a snore. Listen, perhaps it's the tabs talking, but what do you say we put an end to this, eh? The two of you have served your purpose."

"What purpose?" Tigress asked.

"And end to this?" Tai Lung replied. He straightened and lifted his chin. "I am prepared to battle a god."

"Battle? Oh, no," Fazhan-Long. "My dear, I could remove all the space between your atoms until all that's left is an extremely dense grain of leopard flavored sand. No no, there'll be no battles today, you brainless oaf. I was thinking more along the lines of this."

The dragon waved his glowing sticks in a circle, and matter itself began to open. An electric, crackling hole swirled into reality, stretching to reveal a warmly lit staircase ascending into infinity. A gentle peach-scented breeze floated through the tear. Tigress gasped, straightening despite the pain in her chest.

"The Jade Palace," she breathed.

Tai Lung's eyes widened.

"There it lies," Fazhan-Long said to Tai Lung. "Your home. Your Master. Your scroll. It's the dead of night, and without Tigress it's barely defended. Take your prize, Dragon Warrior."

Tai Lung, entranced, took a single step towards the portal. The fur on his shoulders suddenly rose. He turned to look at her.

"No," Fazhan-Long said. "She cannot go. She's too injured. She'll never make the trip."

"What trip?" Tai Lung snapped. "It's ... " breathed, "inches away."

"It's a wormhole," the god replied, as though Tai Lung were an absolute idiot for never having heard of one. The two of them stared at him blankly. He shut his eyes and sighed.

"It's a short trip, but a violent one. You will most definitely be sick," he said, pointing at Tai Lung. "And her, all a crippled broken mess? Dead, quite certainly."

"Aren't we tethered at two miles?" Tigress asked, watching Tai Lung carefully. He had turned back towards the portal, every muscle twitching, aching to leap through and charge up the steps. She prepared herself to leap upon his throat to stop him, claws out, despite her shattered body.

The dragon shook his head. "You died. Such a simple enchantment does not survive death. So go on," he said, turning toward Tai Lung. "End this. Make that twenty years worth it, Dragon Warrior."

He took another step towards the opening. Tigress tensed.

Tai Lung turned. "But - if I go - she must remain … here? In … in Mongolia? In the cold?"

"That's the deal, yes."

Tai Lung swallowed, taking in the steps, the village, the sweet and promising peach breeze. He took another step forward and lifted his hand to touch the portal. It rippled like water at his fingertip. He gasped softly. After a long moment he turned. His gaze lingered over her, then rose to meet hers.

She did not breathe. Tried not to let her desperation and hurt show. His eyes were wide and red and full of …. what? Was it … sorrow? An apology for what he was about to do?

A wave of nausea and grief washed over her. He was going to do it. Of course he was. All he cared about - all he had ever cared about - was the scroll. Only death could stop him.

And she would have to be that death.

He lowered his gaze. A decision had been made.

Tigress's hands closed into fists.

After a long moment Tai Lung glanced towards the portal, shut his eyes...

...and turned his back on it.

"I ... cannot accept your offer," he said to the god. He took a deep breath and straightened. "I will not leave Tigress to return to China alone."

"Oh please," Fazhan-Long said. "She'll heal up fine."

Tai Lung shot a look at Fazhan-Long that crackled with rage, and all at once Tigress felt something happen in her chest, in her heart, as pure and terrifying as the light of the heavens. It was as though her very core at once shot up to the peak of the highest mountain and fell into the deepest tunnel.

"Your offer is declined," Tai Lung growled, moving to stand beside Tigress. "Return to your Manchester."

"Are you serious?" the god asked incredulously.

"Deadly."

The god's eyes went wide. "Suit yourselves. Know that you've insulted me," he snapped. But then he blinked, and smirked, and tilted his head at Tai Lung. "But it was an interesting insult, at the very least. I cannot say I expected that."

Nor I, Tigress thought. She looked up at Tai Lung standing by her side and that feeling in her chest increased to nearly bursting. Nor I.

"Oh well isn't that cute. Anyway." Fazhan-Long waved his hand and the portal wavered away from the staircase and into a sudden cacophony of colored lights and pounding noise. "Ciao," the god said, then leapt through the portal, which snapped closed and neatly replaced reality behind him.

Tai Lung shut his eyes and sighed deeply.

Tigress reached up and took his hand. "Tai Lung," she whispered, though she had no idea what she intended to say.

He opened his eyes and knelt next to her. "Yes?"

Her mouth bobbed. She moved her hand to his face. "Tai Lung," she repeated.

He looked at her with intense interest. "What is it? Are you in pain? Do you want me to - "

She cupped her hand around the back of his neck and used it to lift herself just enough to press her lips to his. Tai Lung gave a ragged, surprised gasp, then wrapped his arms around her and returned the kiss. She put her arms around his shoulders, running her hands through the long fur there, and up along the black ridge of mane she suddenly realized she'd always admired. She whimpered softly and pressed herself against him, meeting his lips helplessly until the world narrowed to nothing but that interplay, and the desire, and the relief.

With a soft growl he kissed her jaw, then her neck, biting her there as he tipped her onto her back.

Tigress cried out, her leg and shoulder and chest erupting in pain.

Tai Lung flinched away from her. "Are you all right?"

She dug the heel of her hand into her chest and winced.

"Have I hurt you?" he asked, alarmed.

"I'll be fine," she gasped. "It's just..."

"It's too soon," he said. "To soon to…"

She nodded.

"Ah," he said, looking at the ground to hide the disappointment in his eyes. He collected himself and looked up at her again. "Then shall I …. shall I make you some tea?"

For a moment they stared at one another blankly. Then erupted into laughter.

"Tea would be wonderful," she said.

"Tea it is. Here, I'll straighten you out," he said, gently arranging her on the bed, fluffing her pillows and tucking her under the covers. When he was finished he hesitated, leaned in, and gently kissed her forehead.

"No," she urged as she took him by the chin, lowering his lips to hers. "This is where you kiss me."

A stupid look crossed his face. His eyes fluttered closed.

"As you wish," he whispered, and kissed her where she asked.

O


End file.
